By Jessica Reed
Big changes in electoral forecasts are beginning to show in Nicaragua as the next presidential elections are set for November: just as the two top candidates were said to be liberal banker Eduardo Montealegre and populist sandinisto Daniel Ortega, economist Edmundo Jarquin has made spectacular progress in the polls. In the past month, 26% of voters have claimed their intention to vote for the ex-runner up for Vice President Edmundo Jarquin, who became the Sandinista Renewal Movement party's official presidential candidate following the sudden death of Herty Lewites (openDemocracy article). His opponents lost respectively 17 and 16% of promises of vote.
If the current trend keeps on growing, there's a good chance the final candidates will be Ortega and Jarquin, which defeats the forecasts planning on a return to polarisation that had been previously announced by the media.
Picture: 'Sandinista youth', by Benindc on FlickR.
