NICARAGUANS huddled in long lines yesterday to cast ballots for a new president in a tight race pitting the conservative, Mr Arnoldo Aleman against the former left wing rebel and former Sandinista president, Mr Daniel Ortega.
The polls opened at 7 am. (2 p.m. Irish time), with queues snaking around the block at many polling stations in the capital and in the interior. No incidents were immediately reported, though there were cases of delayed distribution of voting materials.
"That is the only substantial question that has been raised in my mind, said a former US secretary of state, Mr James Baker in Nicaragua with the Carter Centre monitoring delegation led by the former US president, Mr Jimmy Carter. There will still be people who won't get their materials in time but we'll have to see what percent age, Mr Baker said.
Mr Ortega has recast himself politically since he lost the 1990 presidential race to the centrist president, Mrs Violeta Chamorro, who ended a decade long civil war but under whose mandate poor Nicaraguans got even poorer.
He has dropped the military uniform he wore during his 1979-1990 government, apologised at length for excesses in expropriation and censorship, and pledged not to reinstate conscription.
Most delays in distributing voter cards were attributed to administrative problems. Three hundred mules were bringing voting documents to remote areas early yesterday, Mr Baker said.