The frontrunner in Costa Rica's 2010 presidential vote promises to combat drug trafficking and reduce violence and crime, if she replaces President Oscar Arias. Rising crime is a top concern for voters.

Another candidate from the National Liberation Party plans to improve coordination and provide social programs to keep youngsters off the streets.

[Laura Chinchilla, National Liberation Party Candidate]:
"Most of the violence affecting Costa Rica is related to drug trafficking gangs hitting all of Latin America. During the second quarter, we need to have better coordination among judges and prosecutors to reduce impunity."

Chinchilla is aiming to leverage her experience as Public Security Minister to gain voter support. She also hopes to seal free trade deals with China, the European Union and Singapore.

Costa Rica is expected to conclude a sixth and final round of free trade negotiations with China just after the February 7th election. Two years ago, the country ended 60-year diplomatic ties with Taiwan, in order to curry favor with the Mainland’s communist regime.

Otton Solis from the Citizens Action Party trails Chinchilla by 18 percent. He was a three-time presidential candidate who Arias defeated in a contested runoff vote in 2006.

[Otton Solis, Citizens Action Party]:
“Costa Rica believed that by signing legal documents and free trade agreements this would automatically happen. We think we must invest in education to form a productive work force, invest in science and technology and depoliticize the state and make it more effective.”

Two years ago, Costa Ricans narrowly approved the Central American Free Trade Agreement with the U.S. in a bitterly fought referendum. Costa Rica was the last signatory to ratify the accord. Some sectors worry about a flood of cheap manufacture products into the the Central American nation's tiny economy.

Chinchilla needs at least 40 percent of the vote to avoid a second-round runoff, which would be held in early April. Consecutive term limits bar Arias, who won the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize, from running in this election.