Daniel Ortega, candidate of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), leads presidential polls in Nicaragua with 34.2 percent of the votes, polling firm GCM said on Monday.

However, the support for the left-wing candidate is not enough for him to win out in the Nov. 5 election.

The Liberal Constitutionalist Party (PLC) candidate, Jose Rizo, polled 31.7 percent of voter intentions, while Eduardo Montealegre of the right-wing Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance-Conservative Party coalition (ALN-PC) followed with 13.6 percent, and Edmundo Jarquin of the Renewed Sandinista Movement (MRS) trailed 11.1 percent. The GCM interviewed 3,271 people in urban and rural areas for the poll.

Eduardo Gamboa, GCM's manager, said that the ALN-PC and MRS had both lost votes in recent weeks to the PLC and the FSLN.

"In this poll, traditional parties like the PLC and the FSLN are drawing back the votes they lost at the start of the electoral campaign, which had gone to the smaller, newer parties," Gamboa said.

In order to win the presidency, a candidate must win 35 percent of the vote outright, and have a clear lead of at least five points over all the other candidates. If this does not happen, a second round is supposed to be held 40 days after the general election.

Ortega, who led Sandinista rebels in the 1979 revolution that toppled dictator Anastasio Somoza, was elected president in 1984. He lost the presidency in the 1990 elections and has failed in two successive polls to win back power.

Source: Xinhua