Ortega Refrains From Declaring Victory

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.