Ortega heads for victory

Former Marxist revolutionary and US Cold War enemy Daniel Ortega headed back toward power yesterday in Nicaragua's presidential election 16 years after voters threw him out to end a war against US-trained rebels.

With returns in from 40 per cent of polling stations in Sunday's election, the 60-year-old Ortega had just above the 40 per cent of votes that would seal a first-round win.

Two quick counts by respected observer groups also gave Mr Ortega a big enough lead to win without facing a runoff.

An Ortega victory would be a blow to Washington, which backed Contra rebels in the 1980s civil war and fears the leftist would join an anti-US bloc in Latin America led by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Mr Ortega kept a low profile yesterday but thousands of Sandinista supporters set off fireworks through the night and raced through the streets waving black-and-red party flags.

"We have to leave behind all the serious problems our country has suffered in the past, and move forward," said Mr Ortega's vice presidential running mate Jaime Morales, a former Contra leader who joined his old enemy's camp early this year. Mr Ortega led the Sandinista revolution that toppled US-backed dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979 and then allied Nicaragua with the Soviet Union as much of Central America became a Cold War battleground.

When asked in Washington yesterday about the possibility that Mr Ortega has had a change of heart, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice appeared skeptical. "We'll see," she said.

Although Mr Ortega says he is now more moderate and campaigned on a vague centre-left programme, US officials warned of a cut in aid and investment to Nicaragua if Mr Ortega won.

Voters in Nicaragua, the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere after Haiti, apparently ignored the US warnings. They instead punished conservative candidates after three straight pro-US governments failed to tackle poverty and were hit by a series of corruption scandals.

Conservative rival Eduardo Montealegre, who was Washington's favoured candidate, trailed with 32.7 per cent in the partial results, although he insisted his party's numbers showed he won enough votes to force a runoff next month.