Elections results in Costa Rica have put Laura Chinchilla on course to be the country's first woman president.

哥斯达黎加总统选举，劳拉·金吉拉依法成为该国首位女性总统。

followers¹" width="466" height="300" src="/upimg/100208/4_061840_1.jpg" />
News of the preliminary results led to celebrations among Chinchilla followers

Initial results from Sunday's vote gave her an almost unassailable（无懈可击的，毋庸置疑的） lead and the main opposition² contender（竞争者，争夺者） , Otton Solis, has conceded（退让） .

With 47% of votes, Mrs Chinchilla, 50, was 20 percentage points ahead and over the 40% threshold（极限，门槛） for an outright³ win.

A former deputy to outgoing（即将离职的，乐于助人的） President Oscar Arias⁴, she pledges to continue moderate（节制，减轻） free-market policies.

Mr Solis - who was narrowly defeated by Mr Arias in Costa Rica's previous presidential vote - was quick to declare Mrs Chinchilla the winner.

"With a lot of respect, we accept the reality," the AFP news agency quoted him as telling supporters.

Critics of Mrs Chinchilla say she is too close to Mr Arias, and that he will continue to control government policies.

The party of Mr Arias, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, has dominated politics for decades in what is one of Latin America's most stable countries.

The country abolished（废除，摧毁） its army in 1949 and has become known in recent years for tourism and progressive environmental policies.