MANAGUA – Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega, a former Marxist guerrilla leader, looked likely to win re-election yesterday after heavy social spending won him strong support among the country’s poor.
He has overseen a period of economic progress in his five years in power, backed by financial aid from his socialist ally in Venezuela, President Hugo Chavez.
A former commander of the Sandinista rebel army that won power in a 1979 revolution and a cold war adversary of the United States, Mr Ortega has solidified his hold on the Central American country with programmes to improve health and education, microcredits and gifts of livestock.
He has a strong poll lead over a conservative opposition whose two main candidates failed to unite against him.
Mr Ortega was allowed to run for re-election thanks to a 2009 ruling by the Supreme Court, which is controlled by his Sandinista party. Backed by Venezuela, Mr Ortega has cut poverty in this largely agrarian nation, and is credited with allowing the private sector to operate freely. A recent CID-Gallup poll showed he was on course to win nearly half the votes in the election.
But he is also criticised for undermining democratic institutions and some critics fear he aims to remain in power indefinitely like Chavez, whose petrodollars boost the Nicaraguan economy. – (Reuters)