MANAGUA -- Once again, Nicaragua faces a possible Sandinista restoration. The country voted Sunday in an unprecedented presidential election with four competitive candidates, and the question on everyone's lips is whether Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega, who lost by more than 10 percent in each of the last three presidential votes, will succeed in regaining power this time.

If the final tally of Sunday's results show that he failed to win a plurality in the first round, he will face a runoff election, one that he could lose if conservative voters rally behind his rival. Nicaragua's politics are polarized between a Sandinista minority and a majority that is clearly anti-Sandinista, yet Ortega has a real chance of winning. How is this so?

Despite conspicuous efforts by the Bush administration to unify Nicaragua's right, the anti-Sandinista forces are divided. The traditional wing, the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC), controlled by former President Arnoldo Aleman, who is under house arrest since being convicted of corruption, has Jose Rizo as its candidate.