NICARAGUA: Preliminary results show Daniel Ortega leading Nicaragua's presidential election with 40.1 percent of votes

Former Marxist revolutionary Daniel Ortega led Nicaragua's presidential election with 40.1 percent of votes, partial results showed on Monday (November 6), enough to seal victory in one round if that level holds. With returns in from around 40 percent of polling stations in Sunday's election, Washington's old Cold War foe had a 7 percentage-point lead over conservative rival Eduardo Montealegre, little changed from the previous tally. Ortega needs either 40 percent of the vote or at least 35 percent and a 5-point lead over Montealegre to take victory and avoid a runoff election next month. Still, Montealegre did not sound ready to concede. "Different fast vote counts that have been done in this complex election, give different results. We have heard former President Toledo [referring to former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo], people from the Carter Centre and the OAS say that the results of this election cannot be determined until all the votes are counted," he said at a news conference. Meanwhile, election observers circulated through Managua and seemed to have few complaints about the electoral process. "The quality of yesterday's election permits us to say that they were peaceful, massive and organized and legal," said the spokesperson for the OAS election observes, Gustavo Fernandez. An Ortega victory would be a blow to Washington, which backed Contra rebels in the 1980s civil war and fears the leftist would join an anti-U.S. bloc in Latin America led by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Ortega led the Sandinista revolution that toppled U.S.-backed dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979 and then allied Nicaragua with the Soviet Union as much of Central America became a Cold War battleground. Although Ortega says he is now more moderate and campaigned on a vague center-left program, U.S. officials warned of a cut in aid and investment to Nicaragua if Ortega won.

ITN Source | November 7, 2006

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