(11 Sep 1996) Spanish/Nat
The campaign season is in full swing in Nicaragua. The candidates are out in force ahead of the 20 October general and presidential election.
Twenty-four parties and alliances from all over the political spectrum are taking part in the campaign.
Two names stand out in contest for president. Right wing candidate Arnoldo Aleman is leading in the polls, but former president and left wing candidate Daniel Ortega is quickly closing the gap.
Former Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega is narrowing the gap with front runner Arnoldo Aleman ahead the 20 October presidential elections.
Polls show that the candidate for the Sandinista National Liberation Front, (FSLN), climbed 15 points in two months, - the main candidates now separated by only four points.
As the election approaches, the attacks from the main parties are mounting.
Arnoldo Aleman, presidential candidate for the Liberal Alliance Party, has asked Ortega for a public presidential debate that Ortega has refused so far.
But both candidates got close to it Tuesday, when they held press conferences at the same time, but in different places.
Ortega insisted that Aleman signed the so-called minimum agenda - a document that lists the problems of the country presidential candidates should address.
The minimum agenda document was signed by the rest of the candidates last month.
SOUNDBITE:
"I insist before I start debating I want Aleman to sign the minimum agenda. I think it is essential that he agrees with the minimum agenda because then he would be accepting a debate within a context which has been defined by the whole of the Nicaraguan society."
SUPER CAPTION: Daniel Ortega, presidential candidate (FSLN)
Aleman answered Ortega's charges at his own press conference.
SOUNDBITE:
I'm not trying to avoid anything, nor trying to look for excuses like signing something or nothing. I am inviting Comandante Ortega to hold a public debate face to face. He should stop looking for excuses like the signature of the agenda.
SUPER CAPTION: Arnoldo Aleman, presidential candidate for Liberal Alliance Party
Both candidates addressed similar issues in their press conferences.
Both talked about Cuba, and both attacked each other's proposed policies.
Ortega accused Aleman of having too good a relationship with Cuban Americans in Miami - something, he said, that would endanger Nicaragua's security.
SOUNDBITE:
He (Aleman) has agreed to make Nicaragua a base against Cuba, promoting war against Cuba, promoting in fact a war between Nicaragua and Cuba. Logically, that does not give the Nicaraguans confidence in peace, and it's not good for the Caribbean and Central American area.
SUPER CAPTION: Daniel Ortega, presidential candidate (FSLN)
SOUNDBITE:
I think Cuba, the island Comandante Ortega is worrying so much about, deserves, as we and the rest of Latin American people do, to live in democracy. It is not possible that on the eve of the twenty first century we keep a totalitarian regime that has been going on for 37 or 38 years. We will campaign against any government that violates its citizen's human rights.
SUPER CAPTION: Arnoldo Aleman, presidential candidate for Liberal Alliance Party
But despite political differences people in Nicaragua are very much involved in the campaign for the 20 October general and presidential election.
A big turnout is expected in an election that marks an important step ahead to consolidating democracy in the country.
This will be the second presidential election since the Sandanistas overthrew dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979.
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