FSLN Aims to Win More Municipalities in Nicaragua Elections

If the Sandinista Front (FSLN) wins more municipalities the population in Nicaragua will be better off, said President Daniel Ortega, secretary general of the revolutionary movement.

"The Front is not fighting for names or surnames, this is about achieving victory to enhance ongoing projects aimed to ridding the nation of poverty," the statesman said.

Until late last night, the television broadcast the president's speech at the closure of the V Congress of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) where the policy of alliances with other political parties and groups for the vote on November 4 was adopted.

The FSLN's struggle "is not, has not been, and may not be an electoral battle. It is a battle based on principles, consciousness, and ideology, in a Christian, Socialist and United project," said Ortega.

"We are transitional leaders," he said referring to those in positions of leadership. "What remains is the strength of ideas, and that loyalty to the principles which we seek in every national and municipal election, to defend all the conquests of the Revolution."

The FSLN, he said, is the political force that has the largest membership, trust and loyalty of the Nicaraguan people.

As announced, next week the Executive will issue an invitation to the Organization of American States (OAS) to participate in municipal elections, as a companion.

OAS observers will have the opportunity to see how people cast their vote and how the votes are counted, Ortega said, "because we, I repeat, we, have nothing to hide, and we are confident that victory is on the side of the Nicaraguan people."

He also considered as good and healthy the enrollment of different political forces in the electoral process. "What is clear is that we are choosing the path of the vote and burying the path of violence and confrontation," he said.