Nicaragua: Ortega wins re-election

The incumbent Nicaraguan President and one-time Sandinista revolutionary, Daniel Ortega, was re-elected by a convincing margin, according to results released late on Monday, overcoming a constitutional limit on re-election and reports of voting irregularities.

Mr Ortega had 63 per cent support compared to 31 per cent for his nearest challenger, Fabio Gadea, with 86 per cent of the votes counted. The former President Arnoldo Aleman was a distant third with 6 per cent. The size of Mr Ortega's margin of victory is likely to reduce the impact of reports of problems during voting.

A domestic group of observers, Let's Have Democracy, said it recorded 600 complaints of voting irregularities, a handful of injuries in protests and 30 arrests. Mr Gadea, election observers and opposition groups raised questions about the validity of the vote.