Are Costa Rican Elections Transparent?

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Yes they are! Because dubious election results triggered the civil war, the 1949 constitution incorporated a very strong mechanism to ensure transparency in future elections: The Supreme Election Tribunal (known by its Spanish intials - TSE)

The TSE supervises all phases of the campaign process leading up to the elections.  It calls for elections six months before they are scheduled, and at that point takes control of the police force from the executive branch.  The Tribunal names the local election boards that supervise the actual voting and is responsible for scrutinizing the results these boards turn in.  If any, or even all, of the voting districts are questioned, the Tribunal will hand count all of the ballots in question, with representatives from each party present.  in the 2006 election each ballot cast (over 1.3 million) was counted by hand and the winning candidate won 664,551 votes to 646,382 votes, a margin of only 1.% (18,169 votes)