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Preliminary results show that the right-wing candidate of the ruling party PPSO leads the presidential race with 53.01% of the vote.

Preliminary results show right-wing law and order candidate Laura Fernandez leading in Costa Rica’s presidential election.

Results showed that Fernandez of the ruling Sovereign People’s Party (PPSO) received 53.01% of the vote, with votes from 31% of polling stations counted on Sunday night.

Alvaro Ramos of the center-left National Liberation Party came in second with 30.05%, and former first lady Claudia Dobbs came in third with 3.9%.

Fernandez needs at least 40 percent support to win outright and avoid an April 5 runoff.

The 39-year-old politician is the handpicked successor to current President Rodrigo Chavez and has continued to push hardline security policies during the campaign.

A surge in crime in recent years in the historically peaceful Central American country may be a deciding factor for many voters. Some blame Chavez’s presidency for failing to reduce these rates, but many see his confrontational style as Costa Rica’s best chance of curbing the violence.

Fernandez previously served as Chavez’s minister of national planning and economic policy and most recently as minister in the presidential administration.

Costa Ricans also voted for a 57-seat National Assembly. Chavez’s party is expected to make progress but may not achieve the supermajorities he and Fernandez have called for, which would, for example, allow their party to choose Supreme Court justices.

There are 20 contenders vying for the presidency, but with the exception of Fernandez and Ramos, no candidate has reached 5% in preliminary and partial results.