Chinchilla, formerly Arias’ vice president, has vowed to continue his pro-business policies in the Central American nation, expanding free trade pacts and courting investment.

She won 47 percent of the vote, around double the scores of her two closest rivals, who quickly conceded defeat. She will join a small camp of women leaders in typically male-dominated Latin America that currently includes Chile’s Michelle Bachelet and Argentina’s Cristina Fernandez.

The 50-year-old quickly called for unity among the country’s political parties.

“The first is to talk, seriously and permanently with all of this country’s political parties and the social sectors. My administration will have open doors for all Costa Ricans. This requires that we listen attentively to the voices of those who weren’t with us in this election and we humbly ask for their help and collaboration,” she said during her acceptance speech.

Costa Rica, which has no army and avoided the Cold War-era civil wars that ravaged its neighbors, is known for its low crime but is increasingly a transit route for drug gangs.

Chinchilla promised to deal with the problem intelligently and firmly.

“I have been handed clear mandate to fight criminals and drug traffickers with all firmness and intelligence.”

As supporters waved flags and cheered, she declared victory.

“Costa Rica is my beloved fatherland. I defend her, I love her, I adore her and I give my life to her,” she said to deafening cheers. “Thank you very much!”

Famed for its political stability in a turbulent region, Costa Rica is an economic success story in Central America, with an economy based around tourism, manufactured products like microchips, and exports of coffee, pineapples and bananas.

Popular with eco-tourists, surfers and U.S. and Canadian retirees for its lush jungles, volcanoes and relaxed lifestyle, Costa Rica is proud of its six decades of democratic elections and status as one of Latin America’s most stable countries.

Given the euro’s bearish outlook despite the Group of Seven’s reassurance on Greece at a weekend meeting in Canada, lower risk tolerance by investors is expected to support the dollar and weigh on gains for the precious metal, traders said.

Dollar strength often reflects risk aversion by investors and also makes dollar-priced commodities more expensive for holders of other currencies.

Although hot money was seen behind the recent sell-off in euro assets while bigger investors make cautious moves that do not depart from normal risk aversion patterns, the euro zone crisis has prompted a number of financial firms to revise their predictions for the euro.

“The unwinding of euro long positions from last year is set to continue for a while and is making it difficult for gold to rise further,” said Kaname Gokon, deputy general manager at Okato Shoji Co’s research section.

Spot gold was mostly flat at $1,065.95 per ounce, compared with New York’s notional close of $1,065.55.

U.S. gold futures for April delivery were up 1.2 percent at $1,065.8 per ounce.

On Friday, spot gold fell to $1,043.75, its lowest since November 2.

The euro hit an 8- month low of $1.358 on Friday, and was trading around $1.3636 on Monday.

Euro long positions have been unwound in line with speculative long positions in gold as risk appetite fell in recent weeks, linked to China’s credit tightening, concern about proposed trading regulations on U.S. banks and fiscal worries in the euro zone.

The latest data showed noncommercial net long U.S. gold futures positions fell for the third week in a row.

Such positions fell to 210,169 contracts in the week to February 2, down from 211,924 contracts a week earlier, according to the weekly Commitments of Traders report published by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.