Former Marxist revolutionary and US Cold War enemy Daniel Ortega headed back toward power today in Nicaragua's presidential election 16 years after voters threw him out to end a war against US-trained rebels.
Sandinista Front leader and presidential candidate Daniel Ortega waves as he is led through the media by police officers after voting at a Managua polling station yesterday
With returns in from 40 per cent of polling stations in yesterday's election, the 60-year-old Mr Ortega had just above the 40 per cent of votes that would seal a first-round win.
Two quick counts by respected observer groups also gave Mr Ortega a big enough lead to win without facing a runoff.
An Ortega victory would be a blow to Washington, which backed Contra rebels in the 1980s civil war and fears the leftist would join an anti-US bloc in Latin America led by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Mr Ortega kept a low profile today but thousands of Sandinista supporters set off fireworks through the night and raced through the streets waving black-and-red party flags.
"We have to leave behind all the serious problems our country has suffered in the past, and move forward," said Mr Ortega's vice presidential running mate Jaime Morales, a former Contra leader who joined his old enemy's camp early this year.
Mr Ortega led the Sandinista revolution that toppled US-backed dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979 and then allied Nicaragua with the Soviet Union as much of Central America became a Cold War battleground.
When asked in Washington today about the possibility that Mr Ortega has had a change of heart, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice appeared skeptical. "We'll see," she said.
Although Mr Ortega says he is now more moderate and campaigned on a vague center-left program, US officials warned of a cut in aid and investment to Nicaragua if Mr Ortega won