Daniel Ortega, a former Marxist revolutionary and US Cold War foe, edged towards a dramatic comeback victory in Nicaragua's presidential election, early results showed Monday.

With returns in from almost 15 percent of polling stations, 60-year-old Ortega had just above the 40 percent mark that would seal a first-round win.

Thousands of Ortega's Sandinista supporters set off fireworks and raced through the streets waving black-and-red party flags. Senior party members hugged each other, some of them crying with joy, at a party in the capital Managua.

Conservative rival Eduardo Montealegre, who was Washington's favored candidate, trailed on 33.3 percent from Sunday's vote, although he gained some ground from earlier returns and insisted he would force a runoff vote next month.

Ortega, who would almost certainly lose if the race goes to a second round, would also win outright with 35 percent support and a lead of at least 5 points over his closest rival.

Montealegre refused to concede defeat and said the election was loaded with irregularities.
 
"In a democracy, that is unacceptable ... We are going to a second round," he told supporters.

US officials in Nicaragua said they found irregularities in voting on Sunday and refused to back the election until the returns were in and problems of polling stations opening late and closing early were investigated.

Roberto Rivas, head of Nicaragua's top electoral body, insisted it was a clean, transparent election.

It was Ortega's third comeback attempt since 1990, when his revolutionary Sandinista government was toppled by voters weary of a deep economic crisis and a brutal 1980s civil war against Contra rebels trained and financed by the United States.

"We have to leave behind all the serious problems our country has suffered in the past, and move forward," said Ortega's vice-presidential running mate Jaime Morales, a former Contra leader who joined his old enemy's camp early this year.

Anti-US block

Ortega led the revolution that toppled US-backed dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979 and then built an alliance with the Soviet Union and Cuba as the beautiful Central American nation of tropical rain forests, volcanoes and lakes became a Cold War battleground.

An Ortega victory would be a heavy blow to the US Government, which had warned Nicaraguan voters of a possible cut in aid and investment if the leftist was returned to power.

Although he has toned down his leftist rhetoric since the 1980s, Washington worries Ortega will team up with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Cuban President Fidel Castro in the anti-US bloc of Latin American leaders if he wins.

The initial result showed Ortega was on 40.04 percent and Jose Rizo of the ruling Liberal Party trailed way behind in third.

If he fails to win outright, Ortega is expected to lose a runoff as many conservatives who voted for Rizo would switch to Montealegre. Victory for Ortega would end 16 years of rule by conservative governments that enjoyed US support and pushed through free market reforms but failed to tackle crippling poverty.

The conservatives had kept Ortega out of power by fielding a single candidate every time but they were divided at this election, giving him his best chance of a triumphant return.
 
Ortega is Nicaragua's most divisive figure, despised by many but backed by those who still identify with Sandinista health and education programs that briefly eased poverty before the civil war and a US embargo wrecked the economy.

"They never let Ortega govern," Managua resident Adela Martinez said of Washington and the Contras. "Let's give him another chance."

Critics still remember the bloodshed, rations, hyperinflation and hard-line policies under Sandinista rule.

(China Daily November 7, 2006)