Iran Press/ America: Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega seeks a fourth consecutive term in elections Sunday against a field of candidates.
Sunday’s election will determine who holds the presidency for the next five years, as well as 90 of the 92 seats in the country’s congress and Nicaragua’s representation in the Central American Parliament.
Ortega’s Sandinista Front and its allies control the congress and all government institutions. Ortega first served as president from 1985 to 1990, before returning to power in 2007. He recently declared his wife first lady and Vice President Rosario Murillo “co-president.”
The other contenders on Sunday's ballot are politicians from minor parties seen as friendly with Ortega's Sandinista Front.
In Nicaragua, polls were scheduled to close at 6 p.m. Sunday and the Supreme Electoral Council said the first partial results would be released around midnight. Provisional vote totals are expected Monday.
Some 30,000 police and soldiers were deployed to secure voting, according to the government.
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Nicaragua protest: Ortega is facing severe crisis
About 300 people have been jailed since protests erupted in April, according to local human rights activists. More than 300 people were killed during those protests in crackdowns by Nicaraguan police and armed groups backing the government, human rights groups have said.
But, according to the Nicaraguan Association for Human Rights, some 448 people have been killed since protests began, many are university students who have been a key force in the demonstrations.
The protests began after Ortega’s leftist government moved to reduce welfare benefits, but soon escalated into broader opposition against Ortega, who has been in office since 2007. He also held power in the 1980s during Nicaragua’s civil war.
The current violence is the worst since his Sandinista government battled U.S.-backed “Contra” rebels in the 1980s.
The country - already Central America's poorest - is suffering economic ruin from the crisis and thousands are fleeing to neighbouring Costa Rica to seek asylum.
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