MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Ortega eyes return to Nicaraguan presidency

Daniel Ortega may become Nicaragua's president again. And the United States is, once more, out to stop him.

Ortega was met with quasi-religious fervour by screaming supporters when his caravan of lights, fireworks and pumping music rolled into the tropical town of Chinandega this week.

Hours before, a new poll gave him 37.5 percent support before the November 5 vote, 17 points up on his nearest rival.

Ortega first came to power in a popular revolution and ruled Nicaragua through the 1980s. A major Cold War enemy of Washington, his leftist government fought US-backed Contra rebels in a civil war that killed 30,000 people before Ortega was voted out in a 1990 election.

He says he is a changed man and his running mate is a former Contra leader, but Ortega is also an ally of Venezuela's US-bashing President Hugo Chávez and promises greater state control over the economy.

Ortega's lead is courtesy of a deep split among the ruling conservatives, who could still join forces to block the former guerrilla leader.

Ortega's closest rivals, ranked neck and neck, are both conservatives ? José Rizo, a prominent coffee farmer, and Washington favourite Eduardo Montealegre, who is close to outgoing President Enrique Bolaños.

On Thursday, Montealegre ruled out teaming up with Rizo before the first round, saying he was the candidate of former President Arnoldo Alemán, who has struck a parliamentary alliance with Ortega's Sandinistas.

Ortega's supporters say a string of conservative governments have left Nicaraguans poorer than ever.

"Sixteen years of this government and look at the state of the streets. It's miserable," said Alberto Galeano, 50, nodding at Chinandega's potholed streets and darkened homes.