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| Daniel Ortega poised for third successive term as Nicaraguan president | Daniel Ortega poised for third successive term as Nicaraguan president |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| Former Marxist guerrilla leader Daniel Ortega is expected toclinch a third consecutive term as president of Nicaragua, buoyed by steady economic growth which has trumped fears he is trying to install autocratic family rule. | |
| Ortega and his running mate Rosario Murillo, who is also his wife, have nearly 70% support, according to a recent poll, suggesting strong voter approval for a drop in poverty in one of the poorest countries in the Americas since he took office in 2007. | |
| Emerging as leader of the Sandinista movement that toppled dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979, Ortega served one term as president in the 1980s before being sidelined for years. By the time he won Nicaragua’s 2006 election he was talking about Jesus Christ in his speeches. | |
| Opponents have accused Ortega of trying to set up a family dictatorship since he appointed relatives to key posts and after his Sandinistas pushed constitutional changes through Congress that ended presidential term limits in 2014. | |
| “Ortega gets his way and he doesn’t care if he violates the rights of others,” said Maximino Rodriguez, candidate of the centre-right Liberal Constitutionalist party (PLC), Ortega’s closest rival, who is polling just 8% support. | |
| “Supposedly he fought against the Somoza dictatorship, and the Sandinistas themselves regard Ortega as worse than Somoza,” he added, arguing Ortega was just trying to cling to power. | “Supposedly he fought against the Somoza dictatorship, and the Sandinistas themselves regard Ortega as worse than Somoza,” he added, arguing Ortega was just trying to cling to power. |
| There is no obvious challenger. The opposition has been in disarray since Pedro Reyes used the courts to wrest leadership of the Independent Liberal party (PLI), the main group, from Eduardo Montealegre in June. | There is no obvious challenger. The opposition has been in disarray since Pedro Reyes used the courts to wrest leadership of the Independent Liberal party (PLI), the main group, from Eduardo Montealegre in June. |
| PLI congressmen who refused to accept the decision, calling Reyes a puppet of Ortega, were fired. | PLI congressmen who refused to accept the decision, calling Reyes a puppet of Ortega, were fired. |
| Hernan Selva, a 22-year-old engineering student and Ortega supporter, dismissed the complaints by Rodriguez as “the kicks of a drowning man” who fought the Sandinistas in the 1980s as part of a rightwing paramilitary force known as the Contras. | |
| US and international organisations voiced concern about Montealegre’s ousting and Ortega’s refusal to host international observers for the vote. Still, the World Bank acknowledges that, under Ortega, poverty has fallen almost 13 percentage points. | US and international organisations voiced concern about Montealegre’s ousting and Ortega’s refusal to host international observers for the vote. Still, the World Bank acknowledges that, under Ortega, poverty has fallen almost 13 percentage points. |
| Ortega, who has made few campaign appearances, has promised to defend his social and economic achievements if he wins. | Ortega, who has made few campaign appearances, has promised to defend his social and economic achievements if he wins. |
| A substantial part of those gains have been funded by Venezuelan petrodollars, which have underpinned social programmes, helped private business and slashed energy costs. | A substantial part of those gains have been funded by Venezuelan petrodollars, which have underpinned social programmes, helped private business and slashed energy costs. |
| Ortega has also forged alliances with entrepreneurs, helping Nicaragua to achieve average growth of 5% in the past five years, buttressed by high prices for its meat, coffee and gold exports, as well as remittances and foreign investment. | Ortega has also forged alliances with entrepreneurs, helping Nicaragua to achieve average growth of 5% in the past five years, buttressed by high prices for its meat, coffee and gold exports, as well as remittances and foreign investment. |
| Despite some ups and downs, Ortega and the US president, Barack Obama, have maintained a relatively cordial relationship, demonstrating the 70-year-old’s dramatic shift from a leftist firebrand to a diplomat who maintains ties with a cold war foe. | Despite some ups and downs, Ortega and the US president, Barack Obama, have maintained a relatively cordial relationship, demonstrating the 70-year-old’s dramatic shift from a leftist firebrand to a diplomat who maintains ties with a cold war foe. |
| However, democracy remains a touchy subject. A US bill known as the Nica Act seeks to condition financial assistance to Nicaragua on improvements in democracy, human rights and battling anti-corruption, leading Ortega’s government to decry “interference” from Washington in September. |