Nicaragua's Ortega eyes third term, opponents split

President Daniel Ortega, a former leftist rebel and harsh critic of the United States, was eyeing a third term in Sunday's vote after changing rules to be able to run again, as his opposition remained weak and split. The 65-year-old ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez helped overthrow the Somoza family dictatorship in 1979 and still heads the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) in Central America's poorest nation. Ortega, who sports a thick moustache, scored 48 percent against 30 percent for his closest rival, 79-year-old radio host Fabio Gadea, in the latest Cid Gallup poll. Gadea, from the Independent Liberal Party (PLI), stands on an anti-corruption ticket, while former president Arnoldo Aleman, far behind in third, has fought off corruption allegations. With Ortega in the lead, his four right-wing rivals have focused Congress, where 90 seats are up for grabs. Judges in Nicaragua's Supreme Court controversially lifted a constitutional ban to clear the way for Ortega's candidacy, echoing similar attempts across in many Latin American nations. Ortega says he is continuing the 1980s revolution and still enjoys solid support in rural and marginalized areas of Nicaragua, where almost half of the population of 5.8 million live in poverty. His opponents have criticized his bid to stay in power as well as the aid he has received from Chavez -- estimated at over $1.6 billion since 2007 -- which has propped up popular social programs, including for subsidized housing. The FSLN lost power in 1989, after a civil war against the US-backed Contra rebels. Ortega won a second five-year term as president in 2006. Despite his closeness to the leftist firebrand Chavez, Ortega has succeeded in wooing investors, with Nicaragua seen as a relatively safe haven alongside some of the world's most violent nations, like neighboring Honduras or El Salvador. Ortega also maintains a free trade deal with the United States, despite his anti-imperialist discourse and links to Washington bugbears such as Iran. The United States is the main destination for Nicaragua's exports, followed by Venezuela. Economic growth is predicted to reach four percent in 2011. Inflation, which reached levels of 33,000 percent in the 1980s, is now under control, and foreign reserves are at a record $2 billion. While Nicaragua remains the second poorest country in the Americas -- only behind Haiti -- many voters said they saw Ortega as their best hope. "We want a house... and help from President Daniel Ortega," said 51-year-old Margarita Reyes, who lives in a dilapidated building still showing signs of an earthquake which destroyed the capital Managua in 1972. Residents of another poor neighborhood also backed Ortega. "He's done good things," said housewife Celia Cruz, underlining subsidies for transport and basic provisions. Observers have again voiced concern after widespread fraud allegations around local and mayoral elections in November 2008, which provoked the freezing of aid from the United States and the European Union. "We remain concerned about apparent irregularities in the Nicaraguan electoral process," the US State Department said this week. A total of 3.4 million Nicaraguans over the age of 16 are eligible to vote, with the winner needing more than 40 percent or at least 35 percent and a lead of more than five to avoid a runoff.