Nicaraguans went to the polls Sunday to choose a new president in an election that could give leftist Daniel Ortega a chance to govern the Central American country in peacetime, 16 years after his first stormy presidency, DPA reported. Around 3.6 million Nicaraguans are eligible to vote on whether the country should swing to the left under Ortega, of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), or whether it should continue the course set by the current conservative leadership. But with four coalitions and one political party fielding candidates for the post vacated by outgoing President Enrique Bolanos after his single five-year term, a runoff between the top two finishers appeared likely. To win outright in the first round, Sunday's winner will need more than 40 per cent of the vote, or 35 per cent with at least a 5-point advantage over the second-placed candidate. Opinion polls suggest that Ortega, 59, will win a first-round plurality of about one-third of the vote, ahead of his main rival former banker Eduardo Montealegre, 51, a nominee of Bolanos' breakaway Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance (ALN). Polls put Jose Rizo, 62, of the Liberal Constitutionalist Party (PLC, from which Bolanos broke in 2005), in third place.
