Costa Rica ? Costa Rica, long seen as Central America’s most stable and prosperous country, has been rocked by corruption scandals, raising the election prospects for a popular former president and Nobel laureate.

Polls indicated that Oscar Arias, president in 1986-90, is favored in Sunday’s presidential election.

The scion of a wealthy coffee-farming family, Arias rose to prominence in the 1980s when almost all of Central America was engulfed in conflict. He won the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize for leading talks that ended civil wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua.