Mr Daniel Ortega, a leftist former revolutionary openly opposed by the United States, conceded defeat today giving the win in Nicaragua's presidential race to conservative businessman Mr Enrique Bolanos.
Mr Bolanos, the vice president under current President Arnoldo Aleman will now have his work cut out for him to overcome suspicions of rampant corruption within the administration as well as the grinding poverty that plagues the Central American nation.
Early returns at 4 p.m. Irish time gave Mr Bolanos of the ruling Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC) 53.03 per cent of the vote according to the Supreme Electoral Council, edging past Mr Ortega of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), with 45.35 per cent.
Although just 5.42 per cent of the ballots were counted early today, Mr Bolanos fans held up the businessman's seven-point lead over Mr Ortega as they poured onto the streets of his home town of Masaya, waving flags and declaring victory. Fireworks earlier blazed in the skies above the capital amid a cacophony of honking car horns.
Final results of the heated race were not expected until after 10 p.m. Irish time, but former US president Mr Jimmy Carter already paid a visit to Mr Bolanos in his campaign headquarters set up in a hotel in the capital.
Mr Ortega, a left-wing firebrand revolutionary who ruled the country from 1979-1990 after overthrowing US-backed dictator Mr Anastasio Somoza, said he would support the government from the opposition in its efforts to improve the economy of the poverty-stricken country, one of the poorest in the Americas.
The 1980s-era US administration of Mr Ronald Reagan, accusing Mr Ortega of seeking to spread his leftist revolution to other countries, financed a right-wing insurgency to oust him. At least 40,000 people died in the war that followed.
During the election campaign, Mr Ortega distanced himself from his revolutionary past and offered to compensate some of the US companies whose property was nationalized - a statement that failed to assuage the US State Department.
Mr Bolanos is now set to replace Mr Aleman come January 10th for a five-year term.
AFP