Nicaraguan president ready to bring forward elections
Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolanos is ready to bring forward presidential elections if a referendum on constitutional reform is held first to decide the executive sector's power, a presidential spokesman said Friday.

"The proposal of Bolanos stays, but we want to listen to the voice of the people and then we will go for the elections," Ernesto Leal said.

Also on Thursday, Daniel Ortega, a former president who heads the country's main opposition Sandinista National Liberation Front(FSLN), reiterated his proposal to advance elections originally set for November 2006.

Last Saturday, Ortega demanded the resignation of Bolanos and called for early elections this November to facilitate a solution to the country's political crisis.

The crisis broke out late last year when the opposition-led National Assembly revised the constitution, stipulating that the Congress has the final say over the appointment of cabinet membersand ambassadors accredited to foreign countries. The powers are traditionally held by the president.

Bolanos and his government rejected the reforms, citing a ruling by the Central American Court of Justice which deemed Nicaragua's constitutional reforms inapplicable.

The tension escalated last week when Congress designated new directors in the public services sector like telecommunications to replace those named by Bolanos. The president ordered police to block the designees from taking office.

Leal said Jose Miguel Insulza, secretary general of the Organization of American States (OAS), will return to the Central American country next week to continue his mediation for a dialogue between Bolanos and the opposition.

Insulza was in the country last week and failed to bring the two sides to talks.