Nicaraguans Ready for
Elections
Managua - Just 24 hours
before Nicaragua's
municipal elections,
local authorities
assured that everything
is ready for voters to
go to the polls all over
the country on Sunday.
According to the Supreme
Election Council (CSE),
distribution of election
materials will be
completed on Saturday in
all 11,808 electoral
colleges that will
receive 3.8 million
registered voters on
Sunday.
The elections will be
held in 146 of the
country's 153
municipalities, because
they were postponed in
the remaining seven
municipalities until
January 2009, due to
damage caused by
Hurricane Felix in the
Autonomous Region of the
North Atlantic last
year.
Although candidates from
five political parties
are participating in the
race, the two major
groups are the
Sandinista National
Liberation Front (FSLN)
and the
Constitutionalist
Liberal Party (PLC).
The goal of the
Sandinistas, who
regained power in
January after 16 years
in the opposition, is to
win in more than 87 town
halls where they have
been in office since the
2004 regional elections.
For others, tomorrow's
elections will be a
plebiscite to measure
the popularity of
President Daniel Ortega,
who took office in
January 2007.
The most coveted
municipality is Managua,
the capital, where
former boxer Alexis
Arguello (FSML) and ex
presidential candidate
Eduardo Montealegre
(PLC) are technically
tied, according to the
latest surveys. |
