Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega looked set to extend his rule into a fourth term following a controversial election on Sunday, after jailing top rivals and criminalising most dissent.
The polls has been widely condemned by rights groups and international observers.
The United States dismissed the vote as a sham, while Costa Rica, the country’s southern neighbour, also rejected the election even before preliminary results were announced.
Ortega, 75, whose Sandinista Front party and allies control the congress and government institutions, faces a field of little-known candidates in the presidential race on Sunday, while opposition figures who represented the most significant challenge to the former revolutionary leader’s rule remain in prison.
He has ruled alongside his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, 70, the government’s official spokesperson, since early 2017.
Credit: Aljazeera.com
