Enlarge imageBy Kieran Murray and Catherine Bremer
MANAGUA, Nicaragua (Reuters) - Daniel Ortega, a former Marxist revolutionary and U.S. Cold War foe, appeared headed for a dramatic comeback victory in Nicaragua’s presidential election, early results showed on Monday.
With returns in from 7 percent of polling stations, Ortega, 60, had just above the 40 percent mark that would seal a first-round win and enjoyed a clear lead over conservative Eduardo Montealegre, who was Washington’s favoured candidate.
Thousands of Ortega’s Sandinista supporters immediately set off fireworks and waved black-and-red party flags in the streets. Senior party members hugged each other, some of them crying with joy, at a party in the capital Managua.
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Ortega, who would almost certainly lose if the race goes to a second round, would also win outright with 35 percent support and a lead of at least 5 points over his closest rival.
Montealegre was in second place from Sunday’s vote with 32.7 percent support and refused to concede defeat. Jose Rizo of the ruling Liberal Party trailed way behind in third.
It was Ortega’s third comeback attempt since 1990, when his revolutionary Sandinista government was toppled by voters weary of a deep economic crisis and a brutal 1980s civil war against Contra rebels trained and financed by the United States.
"We have to leave behind all the serious problems our country has suffered in the past, and move forward," said Ortega’s vice presidential running mate Jaime Morales, a former Contra leader who joined his old enemy’s camp early this year.
Ortega led the revolution that toppled U.S.-backed dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979 and then built an alliance with the Soviet Union and Cuba as this beautiful Central American nation of tropical rain forests, volcanoes and lakes became a Cold War battleground.
An Ortega victory would be a heavy blow to the U.S. government, which had warned Nicaraguan voters of a possible cut in aid an investment if the leftist was returned to power.
ANTI-U.S. BLOC
Although he has toned down his leftist rhetoric since the 1980s, Washington worries Ortega will team up with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Cuban President Fidel Castro in the anti-U.S. bloc of Latin American leaders if he wins.
U.S. officials in Nicaragua said they found irregularities in voting on Sunday and refused to back the election until the returns were in and problems of polling stations opening late and closing early were investigated.
Roberto Rivas, head of Nicaragua’s top electoral body, insisted it was a clean, transparent election.
Ortega was on 40.85 percent in the early count. If he fails to win outright, Ortega is expected to lose a runoff as many conservatives who voted for Rizo would switch to Montealegre.
Victory would end 16 years of rule by conservative governments that enjoyed U.S. support and pushed through free market reforms but failed to tackle crippling poverty.
The conservatives had kept Ortega out of power by fielding a single candidate every time but they were divided at this election, giving him his best chance of a triumphant return.
Ortega is Nicaragua’s most divisive figure, despised by many but backed by those who still identify with Sandinista health and education programs that briefly eased poverty before the civil war and a U.S. embargo wrecked the economy.
"They never let Ortega govern," Managua resident Adela Martinez said of Washington and the Contras. "Let’s give him another chance."
Critics still remember the bloodshed, rations, hyperinflation and hard-line policies under Sandinista rule.
"One day they took away my son, and I never saw him again," said 66-year-old Maria Elena Sanchez, crying on Sunday as she recalled how her 17-year-old son was drafted by the army from their home in the central town of Masaya to join the war.
"All I learnt from that time is to be frightened of the Sandinistas and to hate them," said Rolando Lopez, 44, in the northern mountain town of Esteli, a Sandinista stronghold in the revolution and scene of fierce fighting in the 1980s.
