Ortega heading for defeat
The first official results of yesterday’s presidential election in Nicaragua showed the governing Liberal party’s candidate Enrique Bolanos headed for a victory over Daniel Ortega of the Sandinista National Liberation Front.
With 5.4% of the vote counted, Bolanos had 53%, while Ortega trailed with 45.3%, according to the country’s Supreme Electoral Council.
Results were delayed almost eight hours because of a huge turnout, and indicated that Ortega had failed to convince voters of his transformation from a Marxist revolutionary to a free market believer.
Ortega was making a second attempt for the presidency he lost in 1990 elections that ended 11 years of Sandinista rule marked by a US backed rebellion in which tens of thousands died.
