SAN JOSE, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- Former Costa Rican President Jose Maria Figueres takes the lead in the current presidential elections though no clear winner has emerged yet, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) said on Monday.
With 88.2 percent of the ballots counted, Figueres, the candidate of the National Liberation Party and former president from 1994 to 1998, was in the lead with 27.27 percent of the vote, followed by former World Bank official and ex-finance minister Rodrigo Chaves of the Social Democratic Progress Party, who garnered 16.70 percent.
Fabricio Alvarado of the New Republic Party came third with 14.82 percent of the vote, the TSE's preliminary results show.
According to Costa Rican law, if none of the candidates exceed the threshold of 40 percent of the vote to win the country's presidency in the first round, a second round vote should be held on April 3.
The TSE said this would be the last update of the preliminary results, since the definitive count of the votes will begin, to make way for the announcement of the official results.
The TSE has up to 30 days from Monday to finish counting the votes and declare the results.
The final winner of the elections will take office on May 8, succeeding current President Carlos Alvarado. ■
