Costa Rica's Sunday presidential elections likely to head to second round - study

FILE PHOTO: Costa Rica's newly-elected President Carlos Alvarado Quesada speks after receiving his credentials during a ceremony at the Supreme Electoral Tribunal in San Jose, Costa Rica April 26. 2018. REUTERS/Juan Carlos Ulate

SAN JOSE (Reuters) - Costa Ricans will head to the polls on Sunday for a general elections likely to trigger a second-round vote in early April, with none of the 25 presidential candidates expected to win more than the 40% of the votes needed to avoid a runoff, according to a study.

The wide field, including a former president and an evangelical preacher, is vying to replace progressive President Carlos Alvarado in an election that will change the make up of the 57-member Congress dominated by the National Liberation Party (PLN), born on the center-left in the middle of the 20th century.