Ortega re-elected as president

MANAGUA, (AP):

President and one-time Sandinista revolutionary Daniel Ortega was re-elected in a landslide, according to results released Monday, overcoming a constitutional limit on re-election and reports of voting problems.

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 from Sunday's election. Former President Arnoldo Aleman was a distant third with 6 per cent.

The size of Ortega's margin of victory is likely to reduce the impact of reports of irregularities 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.

Gadea, election observers and opposition groups raised questions about the validity of the vote, as did the United States.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland repeated US concerns over whether the elections were transparent and free of intimidation, violence and harassment.

"There are quite a number of reports, and we're concerned because the conditions weren't good going in," Nuland said. "And frankly, if the Nicaraguan government had nothing to hide, it should have allowed a broad complement of international monitors."