MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) – President Daniel Ortega won re-election to a third consecutive term as Nicaragua’s leader, electoral officials said late Sunday as they released early results from an election that the opposition called a farce.
With about a fifth of ballots counted in the six-candidate presidential race, Ortega had more than 71 percent of the votes, the president of the Supreme Electoral Council, Roberto Rivas, said.
Ortega ran with his wife, Rosario Murillo, as his vice presidential candidate in a race that pitted him against five lesser-known candidates after court rulings weakened the opposition.
Critics of the government said the election was unfairly tilted against the opposition, but Murillo praised the process. Emerging with her husband after casting their ballots shortly before the polls closed, she called the vote “an exemplary, historic election.”
There were no vote counts yet for 92 congressional seats that were also contested Sunday.