Former President Jimmy Carter said Thursday that foreign governments should refrain from meddling in Nicaragua's presidential election amid local concern that outsiders were trying to influence the November vote. The 2002 Nobel Peace Prize winner was heading a delegation from the democracy-promoting Carter Center, based at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, to observe preparations for the election. ''The Carter Center vigorously opposes any intervention in the Nicaraguan electoral process,'' Carter told a news conference at the end of his visit.Carter added that ``almost all the Nicaraguans whom we spoke to expressed their concern about foreign governments endorsing, vetoing or financing specific candidates.'' He did not elaborate. U.S. Ambassador to Nicaragua Paul Trivelli has said Daniel Ortega, the candidate of the Sandinista party, represents antidemocratic tendencies. U.S. officials have suggested his election could cost the poor Central American country international aid and trade possibilities.
