By Tim Rogers and Katherine Stanley
Nica Times and Tico Times Staff

MANAGUA – At press time last night, a victory by Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega appeared all but assured, with four rounds of preliminary returns and a watchdog group’s “fast count” showing Ortega with a significant lead over his opponents in Nicaragua’s presidential race.

The Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) announced at approximately 7:15 p.m. that with 61.8% of votes counted, National Liberation Front (FSLN) candidate Ortega had a sturdy lead with 38.59%. This puts him well ahead of Eduardo Montealegre of the National Liberal Alliance (ALN), with 30.94%, and José Rizo of the Liberal Constitutional Party (PLC), with 22.93%.

The CSE is expected to announce the outcome of the remaining votes this afternoon.
According to CSE president Roberto Rivas, data suggest that a second round is virtually impossible. (To win in the first round, a candidate must receive either at least 40% of votes, or 35% or more with at least a 5% margin over his closest opponent.)

The expected win would snap Ortega’s losing streak after three electoral defeats and return his former revolutionary party to power 16 years after being voted out of office.

Last night’s CSE numbers mirrored a “fast count” by the Nicaraguan election observation group Ethics and Transparency, which announced yesterday morning that their tally showed Ortega with 38.49% and Montealegre with 29.52%.

Huge crowds of Sandinistas last night began arriving in Managua for a celebration, although none of Ortega’s opponents had conceded. In separate press conferences throughout the day, Montealegre and Rizo maintained the preliminary results did not reflect reality and that they would wait for a significant proportion of the votes to be counted – for Rizo, at least 60%, and for Montealegre, 100% – before conceding.

Ortega, making his first comments to reporters since the election as he left a meeting with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, said that “until the council makes its pronouncement, we have to maintain calm,” and urged his fellow candidates to resolve to work together to “eradicate poverty…and give security to the private sector, to investors.”