Nicaragua's Ortega headed back to power, blow to US

MANAGUA, Nicaragua, Nov 9 (Reuters) Former Marxist revolutionary Daniel Ortega was headed back to power in a presidential election 16 years after Nicaragua's voters ousted him to end a brutal civil war with US-trained Contra rebels.

Ortega's almost certain victory was a blow to Washington and reinforces an anti-US alliance in Latin America led by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

With returns in from 62 percent of polling stations in Sunday's election, Ortega had 38.6 percent support and a big enough lead over his nearest rival to seal a first-round win.

Hundreds of Ortega's Sandinista party supporters, some riding on horseback, took to the streets at sunset yesterday to wave black-and-red party flags and celebrate.

''It is great happiness. It came at last after 16 years of hunger and unemployment,'' said a delighted Rafael Vega, 67.

''Daniel has changed over confronting the United States but neither are we going to be submissive and say 'Yes, sir' to everyone,'' Vega said, smiling.

Ortega, 60, has dropped the hard-line policies of his revolutionary past and campaigned on a center-left platform. He backs a free trade pact with the United States and says he has no interest in clashing with his old enemy.

He stopped short of claiming victory last night, preferring to wait until final official results, but he said was ready to work with other parties to ''eradicate poverty and reassure the private sector and international investors''.

Still, Washington fears he will stand alongside Venezuela's Chavez and Cuban President Fidel Castro in challenging US interests.

Chavez helped Ortega's election campaign by sending cheap fertilizer and fuel to Sandinista-led groups.

Ortega was a leader of the popular Sandinista revolution that toppled US-backed dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979.

BATTLEGROUND He then allied the country with the Soviet Union and US President Ronald Reagan firmly backed Contra rebels in Nicaragua as Central America became a Cold War battleground.

US officials recently warned of a cut in investment and aid to Nicaragua, the second poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere after Haiti, if Ortega was returned to power.

Nicaraguans apparently ignored the US warnings. They instead punished conservative candidates after three straight pro-US governments failed to tackle poverty and were hit by a series of corruption scandals.

Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage said Ortega's victory was a ''resounding defeat'' for the United States.

Eduardo Montealegre, a conservative and Washington's favored candidate, trailed well behind Ortega in second place on 30.9 per cent.

Ortega needs 40 per cent of the vote, or 35 percent with a 5-point lead, to avoid a runoff he would almost certainly have lost as Montealegre would have picked up votes from third-placed candidate Jose Rizo.

Two respected election observer groups released quick count results on Monday that both gave Ortega a first-round victory.

Montealegre refused to concede defeat, however. ''This is not over until the last vote is counted,'' he said.

US officials said they found irregularities in voting but former President Jimmy Carter, whose Carter Center has observed elections in Nicaragua since 1990, said any problems were minor and this was the best prepared vote they had seen here.

It was Ortega's third comeback attempt since 1990, when voters weary of the Contra war and a deep economic crisis turned against him. With the Sandinistas out of power, Contra rebels disarmed months later.

Ortega now speaks more of God than revolution but he still worries many Nicaraguans who blame Sandinista rule for the 30,000 war dead, hyperinflation and rationing in the 1980s.

''That man took our children and sent them to war. We had no food, it was impossible to live here,'' said Claudia Ruiz, a middle-aged woman in Managua. ''How is it possible that people voted for him?'' Ortega supporters say the Sandinistas tried to help the poor but were crippled by a US embargo and the Contra war.

''They never let Ortega govern,'' said Adela Martinez as she voted on Sunday in Managua. ''Let's give him another chance.'' REUTERS DH BD0821