Daniel Ortega has won Nicaragua's presidential election with
about 38 percent of the votes, according to the country's top
electoral official.
With 91 percent of the vote counted, Ortega gained 38 percent of
the vote compared to 29 percent for Harvard-educated Eduardo
Montealegre. Jose Rizo finished third with 26.2 percent.
Under Nicaraguan law, the winner must get 35 percent and have a
five-percentage point lead to win the election outright and avoid a
runoff.
"The results favor Daniel Ortega, whom I've called to
congratulate," Montealegre, of the National Liberal Alliance, said
in a speech conceding defeat.
Ortega, 60, a Cold War era foe of the United States, led the
country from 1979, after toppling the military dictator Anastasio
Somoza. He won the presidency again in 1984 but lost the next
election, and left power in 1990.
Applauding Ortega's victory, Guatemalan President Oscar Berger
said in Guatemala City that "We respect the will of the Nicaraguan
people and congratulate Daniel Ortega."
Cuban President Fidel Castro, in a statement attributed to him
read over Cuban television, also congratulated Ortega for his
"grandiose victory."
The Organization of American States said that Monday's elections
and the process that led up to the elections were peaceful,
orderly, popular, and legal. Other international observers also
lauded the process.
Costa Rica's President Oscar Arias said that the election was
transparent. "Democracy has been consolidating across the region
and Nicaragua is no exception," Arias said in a statement.
(Xinhua News Agency November 8, 2006)
