A Discussion Featuring Eduardo Montealegre, Presidential Candidate for Nicaragua
Recorded on June 14, 2006
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.