Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega poised for third consecutive term

(Image credit: Rodrigo Arangua/AFP/Getty Images)

published 7 November 2016

Officials in Nicaragua say that President Daniel Ortega was elected on Sunday to serve a third consecutive term.

With 20 percent of ballots counted, Ortega has more than 71 percent of the votes, according to Roberto Rivas, president of the Supreme Electoral Council. Ortega, a member of the leftist Sandinista National Liberation Front, ruled Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, after the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza crumbled, and was elected again in 2007. Opposition leaders say the election was a farce, with weak opponents for Ortega to run against, and assert that he wants to start a political dynasty — his running mate is his wife, Rosario Murillo.

Rivas said 65 percent of the country's registered voters cast their ballots, but the opposition said it told people to boycott voting, and turnout was low. "I don't think it's worth voting and wasting time, because it's already fixed," resident Glenda Bendana told The New York Times. "Here they have taken away not our right to vote, but to choose. Ortega wants to die in power and leave his wife to take his place."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.