MANAGUA (AFP) - Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega announced Sunday, on the 30th anniversary of the leftist Sandinista revolution he led, that he would seek a referendum to change the constitution to allow him to seek reelection. Following in the footsteps of elected regional allies, Ortega told thousands of supporters here that he would seek a referendum to let "the people say if they want to reward or punish" their leaders with reelection.| Following the Chavez model to a T ... |
| Wait for the U.S. in mid-2015 ... |
Nicaragua's constitution, amended since 1995, allows only one presidential term at a time and two non-consecutive terms.
The government, however, will "not continue to deny the (people's) right to choose (their leaders)," insisted Ortega before thousands of flag-waving supporters at Managua's John Paul II Plaza de la Fe (Faith Square). "The right to reelection should be up to everyone; and the people should be the one to decide whom to reward or punish" with their votes for a possible reelection in the November 2011 polls, the president stressed.
| Classic. The constitution recognizes the danger of a strongman. Ortega is just the one the constitution was designed to stop. |
Ortega, now 63, led the revolution as a young man and now has a less radical tone but remains a committed leftist -- backed by support from Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez. Caracas last year alone gave this impoverished mountainous Central American nation some 457 million dollars.