Sandinista Renovation Movement

The Movimiento de Renovación Sandinista, abbreviated as MRS, ( German: Sandinista Renewal ) is a left -wing party in Nicaragua. It was founded in 1995 by former members of the traditional Sandinistenpartei FSLN. Among the supporters of the MRS or were central figures of the Sandinista movement, such as Sergio Ramírez, Dora María Téllez, Ernesto Cardenal, Herty Lewites and Edmundo Jarquín. In the presidential elections of 2006, the candidate of the MRS, Edmundo Jarquín reached 6.44% of the votes while Daniel Ortega ( the candidate of the FSLN ) won the elections with more than 38%.

Early development

The MRS is supported by members of the Sandinista movement, the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza in 1979 Debayle crashed and ruled until 1990 Nicaragua. After the electoral defeat led to internal conflicts, especially the leftist intellectual camp criticized the party leader and former President Daniel Ortega. Prominent members as the writer Gioconda Belli and the liberation theologian Ernesto Cardenal resigned from the party. Also Ramírez, writer, former vice president and fellow Ortega's FSLN returned his back and became the central figure of the newly founded MRS. Ramírez criticized Ortega now very sharp, counts him as corrupt establishment and declared him the greatest problem of sandistischen movement.

However, the MRS could in the aftermath not become a popular alternative to the FSLN, also because Ramírez 1996 finally retired from politics. Moreover, were the left-wing intellectual Sandinistas that support the MRS, a fairly small group that ordinary people felt further more by the FSLN represented. In the 2001 presidential election the MRS formed an alliance with the FSLN, but could not prevail. He managed, however, to win the elections in most Nicaraguan cities, including Managua.

In the 2006 elections, the former president and 1996 and 2001 U.S. presidential election, Ortega wanted to compete again for the FSLN. However, the former mayor of Managua, Herty Lewites, announced that, also to want to run, what an internal party preselection would have made necessary. Since Lewites was extremely popular and very good chances would have been at a internal party candidacy, Ortega Lewites was summarily exclude from the FSLN. Lewites then turned to the MRS to and presented himself as a presidential candidate of the party. As a candidate Lewites seemed to have no bad opportunities, partly because Ortega was impacted by rape allegations. In addition, the conservative camp split, so that in the presidential elections of 2006 competed four large blocks. Lewites but died on 2 July 2006, when the new candidate economist Edmundo Jarquín was erected shortly. However Jarquín landed in the elections with 6.44% relegated to fourth place, Ortega was already in the first ballot prevail.