Ortega Refrains From Declaring Victory

But Followers Celebrate; Official Results Of Nicaraguan Election Expected Tuesday

(CBS/AP)  Daniel Ortega, a former Marxist revolutionary and U.S. foe, refrained from declaring victory despite results that appeared to show him taking back Nicaragua's presidency after a 16-year hiatus.

Nicaragua's electoral council is expected to release an update on the vote count sometime Tuesday. Under law, a winner doesn't have to be declared until Nov. 23.

"Every candidate has to have the willingness to show a disposition to work together, whomever wins the election," Ortega said Monday night, as his followers celebrated in the streets. "Everyone indicates that the electoral process has been clean, that there was a massive vote outcome again, and that the important thing here is the reconciliation ought to continue."

If Ortega's victory is confirmed, the Cold War icon would join a growing number of leftist Latin American rulers led by Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, who has tried to help his Nicaraguan ally by shipping discounted oil to the poor, energy-starved nation.

"This is good for the people of Nicaragua and for the integration of Latin America," Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque told The Associated Press on Monday.

After meeting Monday with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter - who is in Managua as one of the many international observers of the election - Ortega called on Nicaraguans to be patient, saying "no one wins until the electoral council says so." Three out of his four rivals also refused to cede defeat.

But last-place candidate Eden Pastora, formerly a Contra rebel in the 1980s insurrection against Ortega's Sandinista administration, said it was obvious Ortega had won.

With more than 60 percent of the vote counted, Ortega had 39 percent to Montealegre's 31 percent. The other three candidates trailed.

If confirmed, that 8 percentage-point difference was more than enough to avoid a tough runoff against Harvard-educated banker Eduardo Montealegre.

Even while he waited, Ortega was nonetheless talking like a winner.

"We ought to work together to eradicate poverty in Nicaragua," said Ortega, calling on his fellow candidates to work for security in the private sector and for national and international investors "because Nicaragua wants to develop and to improve its relations with the international community."

Ortega, who served as president from 1985-90, toned down his once fiery rhetoric during the campaign, promising to support a regional free trade agreement with the U.S. and maintain good relations with Washington.

The balding, 60-year-old leftist often appears more preacher than revolutionary, calling for peace and reconciliation and urging his supporters to pray.

He says he has changed profoundly since he befriended Soviet leaders, expropriated land and fought Contra rebels in a war that left 30,000 dead and the economy in shambles.

In an interview released Monday by the State Department, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Washington would respect the decision of the Nicaraguan people and wait and see what policies the next government follows before making decisions about future relations. The comments were made before Sunday's election.

Ortega's supporters celebrated in the streets Monday, with caravans of cars filing into the capital, honking, waving party flags and blasting the Sandinista campaign song, set to the tune of John Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance."

Herberto Jose Lopez, who earns 4,000 cordobas (US$235; euro185) a month selling CDs from a kiosk, said Monday that he voted for Ortega in the hopes that he would help Nicaragua's poor.

"I've got a wife and kid and I'm lucky because I have a job, but most people will tell you the same thing: The current administration just governs for the guys in ties," said Lopez, 32.

Some Nicaraguans worried that an Ortega win would drive the country's business leaders and elite to flee abroad, as they did the first time he came to power.

"We're just trying to figure out which country to go to," said 27-year-old Karen Sandoval, a Coca-Cola marketer shopping with a friend at an upscale Managua mall. "This sets the country back 20 years."

An Ortega victory would cap a 16-year quest to return to his old job. Ortega lost the presidency in 1990, ending Sandinista rule and the Contra war. He has run for president in every election since.

Ortega's vote percentage was similar to what he received in his last two failed presidential bids, but the right was divided this time between Montealegre and ruling-party candidate Jose Rizo. And recent changes to the constitution allow him to win on the first round with only 35 percent of the vote and a lead of 5 percentage points over his closest rival.

Nicaraguan presidents cannot serve consecutive terms, and President Enrique Bolanos steps down Jan. 10.

[bluestardad]

thgdriver Thank you but i will be gone after today as my children have served three tours in this war and i was only going to blog up till election. This has been interesting and i have enjoyed the dialog.

[thgdriver]

bluestardad

I may not agree with you but I think ou are wasting your time here, you should write for Jay Leno, I bout fell of my seat here in my office on that one.

[bluestardad]

GRAB YOUR ANKLES REPUBLICANS SOUNDS LIKE YOU NEED A HEAPEN PLATE OF TEXAS DICKTATERS THE REST OF AMERICA HAS HAD OUR FILL YOU CAN HAVE ALL YOU WANT FROM NOW ON!

[jhpb1]

WELL DRUDGE2 I CAN SEE HOWFAR OF REALITY YOU ARE,
FIRST ORTEGA DIDN'T HAVE THE OPORTUNITY OF FRAUD BECAUSE YES ,SOME OTHER COUNTRIES "WERE OBSERVING THOSE ELECTIONS" AND YES SOMETIMES YOU NEED EXTRA HELP FROM THE OUTSIDE ,YOU SEE IS NOT THE SAME TO LIVE IN DEMOCRACY THAT TO LIVE UNDER A DICTATOR,HAVE YOU EVER HAVE THE OPORTUNITY TO LIVE SCARED TO DEATH HOPING SOMEBODY HELP YOU?
I DON'T THINK SO!!

[bluestardad]

Dictators is that a Washington Dish that Republican Mark Foley was covertly serving the Congressional pages, Or Is that a Texas Style potato dish that the Bush administration has been feeding the American people for the last few years?

[drudge2]

So jhpb1, are you saying that because Ortega was a terrorist therefore the use of terror by the Contras was justified?
What we did see is in the end Ortega gave up power by the electoral process.

[shingles1]

Hey Fartknocker2 - you own a condo in Costa Rica?
Wow, I didn't realize you were a Costa Rican Citizen.

[jhpb1]

I "DID LIVE" UNDER ORTEGA'S GOVERMENT I CAN TELL HOW MUCH TERROR "WE" AS A COUNTRY SUFFERED,IF YOU WEREN'T THERE ,YOU CAN'T HAVE A FAIR OPINION,HE WAS A TERRORIST AND THAT HASN'T CHANGE,YOU WILL SEE ,IT JUST A MATTER OF TIME AND HE WILL SHOW HIS REAL FACE AGAIN!!

[olebd]

I wonder how much money we wasted to get rid of him back when we meddled in their affairs back in 1990?

Th people have spoken. Now, leave them alone.

[drudge2]

Yes, Congratulations to Mr. Ortega.



"Ortega, who led Nicaragua from 1985-1990, has repeatedly said he is no longer the communist guerrilla who fought U.S.-backed Contra rebels in a war that left 30,000 dead and the economy in shambles."

It is well know that the US backed and funded the Contra. Now someone needs to explain why the Contra are not labeled as a terrorist orgaization.

[bluestardad]

MR. ORTEGA IS WHO THE PEOPLE WANT AND AMERICA SHOULD LET HIM RULE HOW HE WANTS AND EVEN HELP HIS GOVERNMENT!