(17 Oct 1996) Spanish/Nat
The two main Nicaraguan candidates for the presidency of their impoverished country closed their campaigns Wednesday.
Liberal candidate Arnoldo Aleman and the leftist Sandinista candidate Daniel Ortega are neck-to-neck in the most recent pre-election polls.
Aleman has tarred his main opponent, former Sandinista ruler Daniel Ortega, with the troubles of Ortega's leftist regime in the 1980s.
In turn,Ortega has tried to tie Aleman to the brutal Somoza family dictatorship that preceded Sandinista rule.
Amid a sea of red party flags, Arnoldo Aleman closed his presidential campaign Wednesday.
The conservative candidate addressed at least 15-thousand supporters at Plaza of the Republic, in Managua.
It was vintage Aleman, whose Liberal Alliance hammered constantly during the seven-week campaign on claims that a Sandinista win would mean a return to the rationing, censorship, hard times and state
control that characterized the decade of Sandinista rule in the 1980s.
SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
We do not want to repeat the terrible horrors and errors of the past. Nicaraguan people are loyal, generous, brave, enduring, intelligent, sincere, and have a great sense of humour but it also has memory. They can pardon without forgetting their history.
SUPER CAPTION: Arnoldo Aleman, Nicaraguan presidential candidate
Aleman on Wednesday called Ortega, without naming him, \"a wolf disguised as a sheep.\"
Nicaragua's Cardinal, Miguel Obando, is confident that the Nicaraguans will know who they are voting for.
SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
People can spot and distinguish a wolf disguised as a sheep. I think people are going to vote in a mature way, knowing who their candidates are.
SUPER CAPTION: Miguel Obando y Bravo, Nicaragua's Cardinal
Middle Class Nicaraguans still distrust the Sandinistas.
SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
I don't know how willing the international economic community would be
to give the Sandinistas a new opportunity. I can't see a well grounded plan for government, I don't know if they have the quality of people needed for ministers.
SUPER CAPTION: Manuel Ignacio Lacayo, Nicaraguan businessman
Incumbent president, Violeta Chamorro, who defeated the Sandinistas at the ballot box, did not hide her horror at the possibility of Ortega succeeding her.
SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
Well I'm terribly afraid. May God insure that -if he is to win, he gives everything back.
SUPER CAPTION: Violeta Chamorro, President of Nicaragua
Daniel Ortega was to close his campaign later Wednesday.
During his campaign he has tried to tie Aleman to the brutal Somoza family dictatorship that preceded his regime.
He claims he now favours a market economy, better relations with the church and good relations with the United States, radical changes from his party's position in the last decade.
The election is Sunday, with a second round in November if none of the 23 presidential candidates gets at least 45 percent of the vote.
Aleman leads slightly in two major opinion polls, and Ortega leads in a third.
Swaying the undecided vote is believed to be a key to victory.
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