Congress Asked to Aid Nicaraguan Vote

The Bush Administration, declaring “we are at a watershed in Nicaragua,” asked Congress on Thursday to provide $9 million to help guarantee that the presidential election scheduled there next February is conducted fairly.

The request came as President Bush met with former President Jimmy Carter, who, in contrast to the Administration’s skepticism, said he is confident the balloting will be free and fair.

The Administration’s funding request was made by Secretary of State James A. Baker III, who called the election “a rare chance for us to support democratization in a totalitarian society.”

The White House has built its hopes around the presidential candidacy of Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, the leading opponent of President Daniel Ortega. Baker said she has a chance of victory against the incumbent.

Illusions Shunned

But, he said, “We shouldn’t be under any illusions about the battle they face.”

With Nicaragua’s one-month voter registration season approaching in October, the Administration is hoping for quick action by Congress to make the money available for immediate use.

Under the Administration’s proposal, $5 million would be given to the National Endowment for Democracy to pay for such activities as election monitoring, voter registration and party-building. The endowment is a private foundation created by Congress in 1982 to support democratic elections.

The Administration said that an additional $4 million could help pay the expenses of monitoring the election by outside groups and for registration of Nicaraguan expatriates. Carter, chairman of an international group planning to monitor the election, said the money is needed to make sure that the opposition parties have adequate funds to even out the odds and to monitor the election between the opposition and the governing Sandinista regime.

“They have 4,394 voting places, and each voting place will have 11 observers--one from every party--to make sure that every vote is counted right and that the process is carried out properly,” he said. “That is going to cost some money.”

Carter, asked whether he thought the election would be fair, said, “I do believe that, because all sides in Nicaragua now have agreed to participate in the election, under the present constitution and laws.”

Asked later about the former President’s comments, White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater said that “we’re still wary.” He cited the refusal of the Nicaraguan government to admit all groups of observers who have expressed an interest in monitoring the election.

Carter also said he supported continued economic assistance for the Contras, the U.S.-supported rebel force that has sought to overthrow the Sandinista government. The Sandinistas took power in 1979, during Carter’s White House tenure.

At the same time, he said that all of the Contras who want to return to Nicaragua should be allowed to do so, and that he considered his responsibility as an election observer to guarantee that they are not “harassed, but are given a full opportunity to be part of the political process.”