Nicaraguan Race Too Close to Call

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Monday November 5 2:21 AM ET (via yahoo)

Nicaragua's Presidential Race Tight

By ELOY O. AGUILAR, Associated Press Writer 

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) - Eleven years after losing power in an
election, Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega ran for Nicaragua's
presidency Sunday and had a strong chance to win despite U.S. efforts
to dent his campaign.

Voters stood in line for hours throughout the country of about 5
million people. Some polling places opened hours behind schedule amid
organizational problems, and voters at some were still waiting to
cast ballots more than 51/2 hours after the polls were supposed to
close.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter joined thousands of local and
foreign monitors scattered across Nicaragua to watch the voting in a
country where political passions still run high in the wake of a
civil war that ended in 1990 - the same year Ortega was voted out.

Once a socialist revolutionary who wore olive green uniforms, Ortega,
55, campaigned in pink shirts and with the slogan `the path of
love.''

It was meant to help overcome the bitterness many still feel toward
his earlier government, which confiscated property, jailed opponents
and drafted tens of thousands to fight U.S.-backed rebels while
trying to bring jobs and food for all.

Ortega faced Enrique Bolanos, 73, of the governing Constitutionalist
Liberal party in the contest for a five-year term. The former vice
president saw most of his property confiscated by the Sandinistas
during the 1980s.

Officials said first results might not arrive until well after
midnight. The law bars release of independent exit polls or quick
counts before official results are offered. Pre-election opinion
polls showed the race in a dead heat, but ruling party members were
increasingly in a celebratory mood early Monday.

`We are happy with the results,'' party official Wilfredo Navarro
told state-run Radio Nicaragua.

With polls opening late, long lines formed. Claiming a threat of
Sandinista violence, outgoing President Arnoldo Aleman said he would
not hesitate to decree a state of emergency if disturbances broke out
during voting.

The polls stopped accepting new voters at 6 p.m., but people were
still in line as midnight neared. Partisan radio stations urged
voters to stay in line and broadcast warnings saying the law mandates
jail for election officials who close polls before everyone in line
has voted.

`I was struck by the fact that in nearly every single village we
could see long lines of people who were waiting to vote,'' said U.S.
Rep. David Dreier, a California Republican who was part of a
congressional observation group that toured the country by
helicopter.

Ortega suggested Saturday that Aleman could be preparing to annul the
elections if they go against his party.

`We ask God to enlighten the president to avoid causing fear in the
population,'' Ortega said as he voted. `I call on our brother
Sandinistas to not let them provoke us'' to violence.

Carter told a news conference that it `is not acceptable'' to declare
a state of emergency if there is merely a close vote. But the former
U.S. president, who also monitored the 1990 and 1996 elections here
predicted it would be a fair election.

Bolanos promises to continue the free-market policies of Aleman, but
with a greater emphasis on fighting corruption. Allegations of shady
dealings stained the reputation of the outgoing government.

Both Ortega and Bolanos also have promised to revise the
constitutional amendments that put the supreme court, electoral
council and other agencies in partisan political hands and that
blocked most of the country's political parties from reaching the
ballot.

Ortega, too, has vowed to respect private property and free speech
and said that the vice presidency, foreign ministry and attorney
general's posts would go to prominent figures who were imprisoned by
the Sandinistas in the 1980s.

But U.S. officials openly tilted against him, expressing concern
about his party's past ties to terrorists and its past socialist
policies.

While the overall economy has grown over the past three years, little
of that has reached the poorest Nicaraguans. Millions live on about a
dollar a day.

Those problems will continue to face any new government.

While Aleman's government has increased foreign investment, it
remains saddled with a $4 billion foreign debt and is unlikely to
meet financial targets agreed upon with the International Monetary
Fund as a condition for more debt relief.

Top income sources - coffee, tourism, assembly plants and money sent
from Nicaraguans working abroad - have all slumped recently. Foreign
reserves have dropped sharply, leaving Nicaragua with less than three
weeks of reserve coverage for imports.
 
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