Barely 75 percent of ballots had been counted on Sunday evening when electoral courts in Costa Rica sent out the proverbial black smoke, indicating that the country’s presidential election would be going to a runoff. While the results threw up some surprises, the bottom line was that no candidate reached the minimum 40 percent of votes required to win, meaning the two best-voted contenders will face off in a runoff on April 3.
Former President José María Figueres — who ruled the country between 1994 and 1998 — finished in first place with 27.2 percent of the votes, meaning that...
