MANAGUA, Nicaragua – The opposition Patriotic Alliance, which was formed to oppose the re-election plans of President Daniel Ortega, was launched Sunday at the local level at a rally attended by some 800 people in Masaya, 30 kilometers southeast of Managua.

Enrique Sáenz, a legislator and president of the Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS), said Sunday that the alliance is being formed not only to defend the constitution and democracy, but also as an option for exercising political power.

He said the alliance is an organization of political parties, social organizations and trade groups, as well as people representing all sectors of Nicaraguan society.

Sáenz said a governing council for the Patriotic Alliance has been formed, and its members will be announced in the coming days.

The Patriotic Alliance was created March 19 in Managua to prevent, by democratic means, President Ortega “leading the country to disaster,” according to a proclamation issued by the alliance on the day of its creation.

Initially, the alliance was composed of the Citizens' Democratic Union (UDC), which includes 15 civil society organizations, the Independent Liberal Party (PLI), a faction of the Nicaraguan Resistance Party (PRN), the MRS and the November 9 Movement, which was formed to denounce alleged electoral fraud during the nationwide municipal elections held in November 2008.

Sáenz said local representatives of other parties, such as the Alternative for Change, the Vamos con Eduardo Movement led by opposition legislator Eduardo Montealegre, the Conservative Party and the Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance, also participated in the alliance's launch in Masaya.

According to a political source, the next local Patriotic Alliance rallies will be held in León, in northwestern Nicaragua, and in Chontales, in the center of the country. The dates for the activities have not been set.