Heritage Foundation Leadership for America

Location: The Heritage Foundation's Lehrman Auditorium

Eduardo Montealegre is a frontrunner in national polls for the November 2006 presidential elections in Nicaragua. A former Secretary of the Presidency in the current administration of Enrique Bolaños, he also served as Minister of Finance and Public Credit. Montealegre’s Nicaragua Liberal Alliance (ALN-PC) is a coalition of liberal parties and the Conservative Party. His main competitor is former Sandinista comandante Daniel Ortega of the Sandinista National Liberation Front who has lost three contests since the Sandinistas permited free elections in 1990. For the moment, Ortega is running neck and neck with Montealegre. Thus, the coming election promises high drama with an electoral commission and courts controlled by the Sandinistas and frequent intromissions by Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez who reportedly backs the Sandinistas. Please join us for a fascinating discussion of the current electoral climate in Nicaragua.