Via Reuters: Ortega near comeback in Nicaragua election - Yahoo! News
Voting was due to end at 6 p.m. (7 p.m. EST/midnight GMT) with preliminary results expected hours later.[…]
Candidates need 40 percent of the vote, or 35 percent and a 5-point lead, to win outright on Sunday and most opinion polls put Ortega close to that.
But the leftist, a divisive figure who was once jailed for robbing a bank to fund the revolution, will struggle to win a second-round runoff if he falls short on Sunday.
The right is split between Montealegre and rival conservative candidate Jose Rizo but is expected to unite to defeat Ortega in any second round.
If Ortega gets 40% today, Montealegre and Rizo will wish that they had united prior to today.
If Oretega does win, it will be interesting to see what President Ortega v 2.0 looks like in comparison to the original version back in the 1980s. While Ortega 2.0 will, no doubt, ally with Castro and Chavez, Ortega will be president in a wholly different context–no Cold War, no revolutionary government to head and so forth.
Ortega will be president in a wholly different context–no Cold War, no revolutionary government to head and so forth.
Of course he will have to contend with US meddling. The fact that you have the US AMbassador trying to develop election strategy for Montealegre and Rizo is appalling and possibly a harbinger of things to come.
Imagine if Bush endorsed David Cameron in a British parliamentary election! It would be entirely out of line and he would be universally condemned.
Why is that not happening in the case of Nicaragua?
Comment by Ratoe — Sunday, November 5, 2025 @ 1:55 pm
Probably because no one is paying attention.
That and the fact that it is historically normal behavior in Nicaragua (I say that not to defend it, but it is nonetheless true).
And you are right: it is improper.
Comment by Dr. Steven Taylor — Sunday, November 5, 2025 @ 1:59 pm
[…] Political Scientist Steven Taylor at PoliBlogger observes that if Ortega wins, that other pair, Rizo and Montealegre will have wished they united and the rest of us will then focus on what Ortega II, The Sequel looks like outside the context of the Cold War. He has lots of interesting chatter with his students, too. Read it all here. […]
Pingback by Publius Pundit - Blogging the democratic revolution — Sunday, November 5, 2025 @ 4:58 pm
When do the polls close? When will results start coming in?
Comment by Maria Sanches — Sunday, November 5, 2025 @ 6:17 pm
Maria,
I just posted a link to a Managua newspaper. Results should start coming in soon, although it may be a while (days?) before we know for sure what the results will be.
Comment by Dr. Steven Taylor — Sunday, November 5, 2025 @ 6:23 pm
Imagine if Bush endorsed David Cameron in a British parliamentary election! It would be entirely out of line and he would be universally condemned.
Yeah maybe, but it would be the one way to ensure the Tories wouldn’t get elected, probably the one hope New Labour has of being re-elected - go on ‘W’ endorse Cameron at the next uk election…
Comment by John L Gibson — Sunday, November 5, 2025 @ 6:24 pm
All being well, as ex president Carter said on Saturday, endorsement by Bush of anti-Ortega candidates only goes to help Ortega.
With Ortega elected in Nicaragua, Chavez in Venezuela, Morales in Bolivia, Castro in Cuba, and left leaning governments across the continent, the future has to be looking up for the peoples of South America.
Comment by John L Gibson — Sunday, November 5, 2025 @ 7:16 pm
00:34 | Count preliminary grants triumph to Ortega !
YES !!!!!!!!!!………………40.87%
Comment by John L Gibson — Monday, November 6, 2025 @ 1:07 am