Eduardo Montealegre Rivas (born 9 May 1955) is a Nicaraguan politician. He ran for president in the 2006 general election as the candidate of the

Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance The Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance ( – ALN) is a political coalition in Nicaragua. It was started in 2005 by Eduardo Montealegre and other members of the Constitutional Liberal Party (Partido Liberal Constitucionalista – PLC) who opposed former P ...

(ALN-PC) a split-off of the

Constitutional Liberal Party The Constitutionalist Liberal Party ( es, Partido Liberal Constitucionalista, PLC) is a political party in Nicaragua. At the Nicaraguan general election of 5 November 2006, the party won 25 of 92 seats in the National Assembly. However, the pa ...

(PLC) in alliance with other liberal parties and the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

. He finished in second place after

Daniel Ortega José Daniel Ortega Saavedra (; born 11 November 1945) is a Nicaraguan revolutionary and politician serving as President of Nicaragua since 2007. Previously he was leader of Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, first as coordinator of the Junta of Na ...

, receiving 28.3% of the vote.

Early life

Montealegre was born in Nicaragua's capital

Managua ) , settlement_type = Capital city , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Nicar ...

, from a wealthy and prominent family in the banking sector, the direct descendant of Mariano Montealegre y Romero, the founder of the city of Chinandega. He received an Sc. B in Economics from

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

in 1976 and an MBA with a focus in finance and strategic planning from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

in 1980. He later became a businessman in Nicaragua.

Political career

Montealegre served as minister to the presidency in 1998 under

Arnoldo Alemán José Arnoldo Alemán Lacayo (born 23 January 1946) is a Nicaraguan politician who served as the 81st president of Nicaragua from 10 January 1997 to 10 January 2002. In 2003, he was convicted of corruption and sentenced to a 20-year prison term; ...

. He also served as

foreign minister A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...

from 1999 to 2000 in the government of Arnoldo Alemán and as

finance minister A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

from 2002 to 2003 in the government of the next President

Enrique Bolaños Enrique José Bolaños Geyer (; 13 May 1928 – 14 June 2021) was a Nicaraguan politician who served as President of Nicaragua from 10 January 2002 to 10 January 2007. From 1997 to 2002, Bolaños served as vice president under Arnoldo Alemán ...

. Subsequently, he served as minister to the presidency of Enrique Bolaños. He announced his split from the PLC in protest of the control of the party by former President Alemán, who was imprisoned for misappropriation of funds. Montealegre objects to an alliance, referred to in the popular media as "El Pacto", between Arnoldo Alemán and

, who ran as the candidate of the

FSLN The Sandinista National Liberation Front ( es, Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, FSLN) is a socialist political party in Nicaragua. Its members are called Sandinistas () in both English and Spanish. The party is named after Augusto C� ...

in 2006 for the fourth consecutive time since his 1985–1990 presidency, this time successfully. Because of Montealegre's stand against corruption of Arnoldo Alemán's PLC, and Daniel Ortega's Sandinista National Liberation Front, the U.S. ambassador in Managua openly endorsed his candidacy. In 2006, a commission of Nicaragua's

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the r ...

threatened to criminally charge Montealegre, as well as a former head of the central bank and the former superintendent of banks. They allege that they abused their positions to enrich themselves by illegally issuing US$400 million in bonds in favor of banks that acquired several failed banks. Montealegre dismisses the charges, stating that he was no longer employed by the government when the bonds were emitted. In 2008, one of the members of the commission said the conclusions had been politically motivated and some of the facts invented under instructions from former President Arnoldo Alemán (1997–2002). In 2011, the charges have prescribed. Montealegre was granted a seat in the Nicaraguan congress after the 2006 general elections, since a seat in Congress is guaranteed to the candidate who comes in second in presidential elections. After losing control of the leadership of the ALN, Montealegre agreed to run for mayor of Managua in the November 2008 municipal elections as candidate of the alliance led by his former party, the PLC still ruled by Arnoldo Aleman. Montealegre lost the election to

Alexis Argüello Alexis Argüello (April 19, 1952 – July 1, 2009) was a Nicaraguan professional boxer who competed from 1968 to 1995, and later became a politician. He was a three-weight world champion, having held the WBA featherweight title from 1974 to 19 ...

, but alleged that the election was rife with fraud. The municipal elections which were held in November 2008 were highly contested and were held without international observers due to the

Sandinista The Sandinista National Liberation Front ( es, Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, FSLN) is a socialist political party in Nicaragua. Its members are called Sandinistas () in both English and Spanish. The party is named after Augusto C� ...

government's reluctance to invite any observers. The supposed fraud of the municipal elections resulted in several days of protest mostly in but not limited to

Managua ) , settlement_type = Capital city , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Nicar ...

Election history

National Convention of the Constitutionalist Liberal Party (PLC) presidential primaries, 28 January 2001.

* Enrique Bolaños Geyer – 220 (54.6%) * Eduardo Montealegre – 143 (35.5%) *

Iván Escobar Fornos Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was Bulgari ...

– 38 (9.4%) * Null – 2 (0.5%)

Presidential election results, 5 November 2006

Elections for Mayor of Managua 2008, 9 November 2008

Summary of the 6 November 2011 Nicaraguan National Assembly election results

, - !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left valign=top, Parties !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right , Votes !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right , % !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right , Seats , - , align=left valign=top,

Sandinista National Liberation Front The Sandinista National Liberation Front ( es, Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, FSLN) is a socialist political party in Nicaragua. Its members are called Sandinistas () in both English and Spanish. The party is named after Augusto ...

(''Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional'') , 1,583,199 , valign="top", 60.85 , 63* , - , align=left valign=top, Independent Liberal Party (''Partido Liberal Independiente'') , 822,023 , valign="top", 31.59 , 27* , - , align=left valign=top,

Constitutionalist Liberal Party The Constitutionalist Liberal Party ( es, Partido Liberal Constitucionalista, PLC) is a political party in Nicaragua. At the Nicaraguan general election of 5 November 2006, the party won 25 of 92 seats in the National Assembly. However, the pa ...

(''Partido Liberal Constitucionalista'') , 167,639 , valign="top", 6.44 , 2 , - , align=left valign=top,

(''Alianza Liberal Nicaragüense '') , 19,658 , valign="top", 0.76 , — , - , align=left valign=top, Alliance for the Republic (''Alianza por la República'') , 9,317 , valign="top", 0.36 , — , - , align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9", Total votes , width="75" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 2,601,836 , width="30" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 100.00 , width="30" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", 92 , - , align=left colspan=4 width=500, Source: CSE
* The runner-up in the presidential election (

Fabio Gadea Mantilla Fabio Gadea Mantilla (born November 9, 1931 in Ocotal, Nueva Segovia) is a Nicaraguan radio journalist, writer, and politician. He is owner and co-founder of the news radio station Radio Corporación. He also represents Nicaragua as deputy ...

of the PLI) and the outgoing president are special members of the National Assembly; as Ortega was reelected, the outgoing Vice President ( Jaime Morales Carazo of the FSLN), who was not Ortega's running mate in this election (having been replaced by Omar Halleslevens, will take up his seat. (AFP)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Montealegre Rivas, Eduardo 1955 births Living people Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance politicians Constitutionalist Liberal Party politicians Members of the National Assembly (Nicaragua) Foreign Ministers of Nicaragua Finance ministers of Nicaragua Harvard Business School alumni Brown University alumni