Sandinistas regain Managua

["Johannes Schneider" <Johannes.Schneider@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

>From the Financial Times webpage

Sandinistas regain Managua
By Andrew Bounds in Managua
Published: November 6 2000 05:19GMT | Last Updated: November 6 2000 05:28GMT

The leftwing Sandinista Liberation Front was poised to take control of
Nicaragua's capital in municipal elections on Sunday night for the first
time since it lost power at the ballot box in 1990. Early results showed the
Front's mayoral candidate, Herty Lewites, winning around half the vote.

Mr Lewites claimed victory and said he would work with President Alfonso
Aleman, of the Constitutional Liberal party, and the private sector. "I will
be the mayor for all Managuans," he said.

The moderate has distanced himself from the Sandinista leadership, many of
whom are on the hard left. Controlling Managua will give the party access to
resources for next year's presidential elections.

Sunday's voting passed peacefully and fears of violence were not realised.
There was a widespread boycott on the Atlantic coast, where the banning of a
Miskito Indian party from the race had caused tensions. One person died
during clashes with police last week and Brooklin Rivera, a local leader who
fought with the US-backed anti-Sandinista resistance in the 1980s, had
threatened more violence.

The Organisation of American States, which is monitoring the elections, said
there was a "tense calm" in the region and said there could be trouble if
Nicaragua's electoral council did not order a rerun to let the excluded
party, Yatama, to run. Silvio Calderon, a director of the council, said that
was unlikely.

The OAS added that the absence of electors on electoral rolls, the switching
of some polling stations, and the retention by the authorities of some
voters' identity cards "were aspects that generated confusion and, in some
cases, abstention."

A controversial electoral law passed by the Liberals and Sandinistas in
February has strict voting criteria , which appear to be aimed at
maintaining their dominance of the country's politics.