Wiretaps. Drug-gang payoffs. Clandestine videos. Unspeakable insults. Photoshopped campaign pictures. For Colombia's voters, going to the polls on Sunday comes as a catharsis after the ugliness that has marred one of this year's most important presidential elections in Latin America.

INTERACTIVE: Explore how the top five parties spent – or misspent – their money during Costa Rica's recent national elections.

The inauguration of President-elect Luis Guillermo Solís Rivera on May 8 will be open to the public, and the organizing committee will be handing out 23,000 free tickets to people interested in attending the ceremony.

In a brief 15-minute ceremony, Supreme Elections Tribunal President Luis Antonio Sobrado on Friday morning officially presented Luis Guillermo Solís Rivera with credentials declaring him the 47th president of Costa Rica.

An electoral mandate of such a magnitude as the one Costa Rica has just delivered to the Citizen Action Party’s Luis Guillermo Solís is impressive around the world.

President-elect Luis Guillermo Solís promised to balance the budget without raising taxes, while investing in public transportation, environmental protection and increased economic opportunities for women. Originally released in December, the Citizen Action Party candidate’s plan contains a mix of centrist and progressive policy proposals.

Easily surpassing his goal of 1 million votes Sunday night, President-elect Luis Guillermo Solís has claimed a mandate to govern, but the realities of running a government still loom, analysts said on Monday.

Barely a few minutes after Supreme Elections Tribunal President Luis Antonio Sobrado announced the first results of Sunday's presidential runoff, several business-sector representatives began emailing President-elect Luis Guillermo Solís – with copies sent to members of the press – their lists of policy recommendations and needs.

Opposition candidate Luis Guillermo Solís easily won Sunday’s runoff election, ushering in Costa Rica’s first third-party candidate in 44 years.

Political centrist Luis Guillermo Solís was elected president of Costa Rica in a runoff vote Sunday, becoming the first third-party candidate to win in decades.