</s>Former Marxist guerrilla leader Daniel Ortega is expected to easily clinch a third consecutive term as president of Nicaragua on Sunday, buoyed by steady economic growth that has trumped fears he is trying to install autocratic family rule.

Mr Ortega and his running mate, his wife Rosario Murillo, have nearly 70 per cent support, according to a recent poll, tapping into strong voter approval for a drop in poverty in one of the poorest countries in the Americas since he took office in 2007.

“He (Ortega) is the only person who has worked for the poor, and he will keep doing it, because that is his essence,” said Jose Vicente Pong, a 64-year-old retiree, casting his vote by the ministry of labour in Managua on Sunday morning. “He comes from poverty, and he’ll keep working for the poor.”

Emerging as leader of the Sandinista movement that toppled dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979, Mr Ortega served one term as president in the 1980s before being sidelined for years.

By the time he won Nicaragua’s 2006 election, he had moved far enough from his Marxist roots to talk about Jesus Christ in his speeches.

Opponents have accused Mr Ortega of trying to set up a “family dictatorship” since he appointed relatives to key posts, and after his Sandinistas pushed constitutional changes through Congress that ended presidential term limits in 2014.

“Mr Ortega gets his way and he doesn’t care if he violates the rights of others,” said Maximino Rodriguez, candidate of the centre-right Liberal Constitutionalist Party (PLC), Mr Ortega’s closest rival polling just 8 per cent support.

“Supposedly he fought against the Somoza dictatorship, and the Sandinistas themselves regard Ortega as worse than Somoza,” he added, arguing Mr Ortega was just trying to cling to power.

There is certainly no obvious challenger. The opposition has been in disarray since Pedro Reyes used the courts to wrest leadership of the Independent Liberal Party (PLI), the main group, from Eduardo Montealegre in June.

PLI congressmen who refused to accept the decision, calling Reyes a puppet of Ortega, were dismissed.

Hernan Selva, a 22-year-old engineering student and supporter of Mr Ortega, dismissed as “the kicks of a drowning man” the complaints by Rodriguez, who fought the Sandinistas in the 1980s as part of a right-wing paramilitary force known as the Contras.

US and international organisations voiced concern about Mr Montealegre’s ouster and Mr Ortega’s refusal to host international observers for the vote. Still, the World Bank acknowledges that under Mr Ortega, poverty has fallen almost 13 percentage points.

Mr Ortega, who has made few campaign appearances, has promised to defend his social and economic achievements if he wins.

A substantial part of those gains have been funded by Venezuelan petrodollars that have underpinned social programs, helped private business, and slashed energy costs.

Mr Ortega has also forged alliances with entrepreneurs, helping Nicaragua to achieve average growth of 5 per cent in the past five years, buttressed by high prices for its meat, coffee and gold exports, as well as remittances and foreign investment.

Despite some ups and downs, Mr Ortega and US president Barack Obama have maintained a relatively cordial relationship, demonstrating 70-year-old Ortega’s dramatic shift from a leftist firebrand to a diplomat who maintains ties with a Cold War foe.

But democracy remains a touchy subject. A US. bill known as the Nica Act seeks to condition financial assistance to Nicaragua on improvements in democracy, human rights, and battling anti-corruption, leading Mr Ortega’s government to decry “interference” from Washington in September.</s>MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega appears to have a clear path to a third consecutive term following recent moves that weakened the country’s opposition.

Polls show the former guerrilla fighter easily winning Sunday’s presidential election with more than 50 percent of the vote in a field that includes five other lesser-known candidates. He’s running with his wife, Rosario Murillo, as his vice presidential candidate.

Nicaragua’s steady economic growth and low levels of violence compared to neighboring Honduras and El Salvador have won support for Ortega and his leftist Sandinista National Liberation Front. Many Nicaraguans also cite the first lady’s social programs as a major reason for the governing party’s popularity.

But his critics say his allies have manipulated the Central American country’s political system to guarantee he stays in power by dominating its branches of government, allowing indefinite presidential re-election and delegitimizing the only opposition force seen as capable of challenging him. They accuse him of wanting to form a political dynasty together with his wife.

“I don’t think it’s worth voting and wasting time, because it’s already fixed,” said Glenda Bendana, an appliance sales executive in a Managua shopping mall. “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.”

In July, Nicaragua’s Supreme Electoral Council effectively decimated the opposition by ousting almost all its members from congress — 28 active and alternate legislators from the Liberal Independent Party and its ally the Sandinista Renovation Movement — for not recognizing Pedro Reyes as their leader. Reyes was appointed as head of the opposition by the Supreme Court but is seen by many as a tool of Ortega. The ousted legislators had supported former opposition leader Eduardo Montealegre.

Since then, the most powerful opposition forces have moved to the sidelines of the nation’s politics, urging Nicaraguans to join their boycott of the election, which they call a “farce.”

Many Nicaraguans, including political analyst Carlos Tunnerman, believe that the five other presidential candidates are not true opponents, but were placed on the ballot to make it seem that Ortega has legitimate competition.

“The only thing they are looking to do is play along with Ortega, permitting him to get additional small bits of power in the National Assembly, Tunnerman said.

Candidate Maximino Rodriguez, of the Liberal Constitutional Party, rejected that idea. “I only collaborate with the Nicaraguan people,” he said.

Ortega, who helped topple the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza as a Sandinista guerrilla leader, ruled Nicaragua from 1979-1990. After losing power in a shock electoral defeat, he later returned to power through the ballot box, assuming the presidency in 2007.

Much of the criticism of Ortega dates back to 2010 when Nicaragua’s Supreme Court, dominated by Sandinista-friendly judges, declared unconstitutional an article that barred the nation’s president from running for a consecutive term. Ortega’s detractors say it was the first step in ensuring his long-term hold on the country.

His current campaign for another five-year presidential term has been low key, without the massive rallies of elections past. Voters will also elect a new legislature.

“They are the dullest and least brilliant campaigns that we have had in recent times,” political analyst Cairo Amador said.

Edwin Castro, leader of the ruling party’s caucus in the National Assembly, attributed the smaller gatherings to a change in style.

“There are styles of campaigning,” he said. “We’re trying to make it the most environmentally friendly, doing events in towns, not big gatherings.”

If Ortega is re-elected, he will face an increasingly difficult regional landscape.

Leftist ally Venezuela is overwhelmed by an economic crisis and Cuba is normalizing relations with the U.S.

The U.S. House of Representatives has moved to punish Nicaragua since the opposition was gutted, passing a bill to require the United States to oppose loans to Nicaragua from international lending institutions unless the country takes “effective steps to hold free, fair and transparent elections.” A companion bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate.

“The lack of Venezuelan support, the international price of oil, the price of our exports and the possibility that (U.S. legislation passes) makes it a more complicated outlook for the Ortega in the next term,” said Oscar Rene Vargas, a sociologist and economist from Central American University.</s>MANAGUA, (Reuters) – Nicaraguan leader Daniel Ortega powered toward his third consecutive term as president of the poor Central American country yesterday, as voters cheered years of solid growth and overlooked criticisms he is installing a family dynasty.

By fusing his militant past with a more business-friendly approach, Ortega stands in stark contrast to many once-dominant Latin American leaders, whose popularity has plummeted in recent years after failing to guarantee gains in economic prosperity.

The 70-year-old former guerilla fighter, who is running with his wife, Rosario Murillo, as vice president, had 72.1 percent of votes, with 66.3 percent of polling stations counted, the electoral board said.

The announcement sent hundreds of his leftist Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) party supporters out into the streets of Managua to celebrate.

Ortega’s main opponent, the center-right Liberal Constitutionalist Party (PLC) candidate Maximino Rodriguez, was a distant second with 14.2 percent of votes, the board said.

“I’m euphoric, thanking God for this opportunity, this triumph, so the people continue to reap benefits,” said Ana Luisa Baez, 55, a widow and mother of four who runs a small store out of her home.

“Thanks to the (Sandinista) revolution, I have faith I’ll be able to keep moving forward, because we are backed by a good government,” she added, as car horns honked and motorcycle riders wove through Managua’s Plaza de las Victorias waving red and black Sandinista flags.

Girls in sequined mini-skirts danced to Latino pop music on a stage in the square in celebration.

Speaking after casting his vote on Sunday evening, Ortega, a one-time foe of the United States government, couldn’t resist taking a potshot at Nicaragua’s northern neighbor just days before U.S. voters decide on their next leader.

“Now it’s us, the Nicaraguans, who decide, because we no longer have a single Yankee general here,” Ortega said, referring to years of U.S. interference in the country’s affairs.

“It’s we Nicaraguans who count the votes, this is a sovereign democracy.”

Emerging as leader of the Sandinista movement that toppled dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979, Ortega led the country during the 1980s, when a civil war against U.S.-backed Contra rebels killed some 30,000 people and unleashed an economic crisis.

After losing the 1990 election, Ortega threatened to fade into history, but the former fighter managed to orchestrate a return to power when he became president in the 2006 election.

Opponents have accused Ortega of trying to set up a “family dictatorship” since he appointed relatives to key posts, and after his Sandinistas pushed constitutional changes through Congress that ended presidential term limits in 2014.

The opposition views Murillo’s vice presidential bid as further evidence of Ortega’s power grab, particularly given that rumors have long swirled over his supposed health problems.

“Ortega gets his way and he doesn’t care if he violates the rights of others,” said Maximino Rodriguez, candidate of the center-right Liberal Constitutionalist Party (PLC), Ortega’s closest rival, polling at 8 percent support.

“Supposedly he fought against the Somoza dictatorship, and the Sandinistas themselves regard Ortega as worse than Somoza,” he added, arguing Ortega was trying to cling to power.

Hernan Selva, a 22-year-old engineering student and Ortega supporter, dismissed as “the kicks of a drowning man” the complaints by Rodriguez, who fought the Sandinistas in the 1980s as part of the right-wing paramilitary Contras.

Despite the United States and international organizations having voiced concern about Ortega’s stranglehold on power, the World Bank acknowledges that poverty has fallen almost 13 percentage points under his rule.

A substantial part of those gains have been funded by Venezuelan petrodollars that have underpinned social programs, helped private business and slashed energy costs.

Ortega has also forged alliances with the business sector, helping Nicaragua to achieve average growth rates of 5 percent in the past five years.

Despite some ups and downs, Ortega and U.S. President Barack Obama have maintained a relatively cordial relationship, demonstrating Ortega’s shift from a leftist firebrand to a diplomat who maintains ties with a Cold War enemy.

A U.S. bill known as the Nica Act seeks to condition financial assistance to Nicaragua on improvements in democracy, human rights and battling anti-corruption, leading Ortega’s government to decry “interference” from Washington in September.</s>Nicaragua's incumbent president Daniel Ortega and his wife, vice presidential candidate Rosario Murillo, left, wave at supporters after casting their ballots in Managua, Nicaragua, Sunday, Nov. 6, 2016. Ortega appears headed for a a third consecutive term victory in the general election, but critics accused Ortega and his allies of manipulating the political system to guarantee he stays in power by dominating all branches of government.

MANAGUA, Nicaragua — President Daniel Ortega overwhelmingly won re-election to a third consecutive term as Nicaragua's leader according to results Monday, even as the opposition called the voting a farce.

With about two-thirds of ballots counted in Sunday's six-candidate presidential race, Ortega had 72.1 percent of the vote compared with 14.2 for his closest rival.

Supreme Electoral Council chief Roberto Rivas announced the results and said they amounted to an irreversible trend favoring Ortega.

The president ran with his wife, Rosario Murillo, as his vice presidential candidate in a race against five lesser-known candidates after court rulings weakened the opposition.

Critics of the government said the election was unfairly tilted against the opposition, but Murillo praised the process. Emerging with her husband after casting their ballots shortly before the polls closed, she called the vote "an exemplary, historic election."

With the outcome of the vote clear, attention turned to disputed turnout figures in an election that Ortega's opponents had urged people to boycott.

Rivas said about 66 percent of Nicaragua's 3.8 million registered voters participated. But the main opposition movement, the Broad Front for Democracy, estimated "more than 70 percent" of voters did not cast ballots.

"Today the people of Nicaragua said, 'Enough!'" the movement said in a statement.

Political analyst Bosco Matamoros estimated turnout was likely around 50 percent.

"Neither the results of the (electoral council) nor those of the opposition are acceptable because they don't match reality," Matamoros said. "And what they demonstrate is that we have a divided country that desperately needs a political understanding to keep this crisis from growing."

Ortega and his leftist Sandinista National Liberation Front have benefited from the Central American country's modest but steady economic growth and low levels of violence compared to neighboring Honduras and El Salvador.

Many Nicaraguans also cite the government's social programs as a major reason for the party's popularity.

But critics accused Ortega and his allies of manipulating the political system to guarantee he stayed in power for a new five-year term by dominating all branches of government, allowing indefinite presidential re-election and delegitimizing the only opposition force seen as capable of challenging him. They said he wants to form a political dynasty together with his wife.

"I don't think it's worth voting and wasting time, because it's already fixed," said Glenda Bendana, an appliance sales executive in a Managua shopping mall. "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."

In Washington, the U.S. State Department criticized Nicaragua for sidelining the opposition and urged Ortega's government to "uphold democratic practices" such as press freedom and human rights.

"The United States is deeply concerned by the flawed presidential and legislative electoral process in Nicaragua, which precluded the possibility of a free and fair election," deputy spokesman Mark Toner said in a statement.

In July, the Electoral Council effectively decimated the opposition by ousting almost all its members from congress - 28 active and alternate legislators from the Liberal Independent Party and the allied Sandinista Renovation Movement - for refusing to recognize Pedro Reyes as their leader. Reyes was named head of the opposition by the Supreme Court but is seen by many as a tool of Ortega.

After helping topple the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza as a Sandinista guerrilla leader, Ortega ruled Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990 and then lost power in an unexpected electoral defeat. He returned to the presidency through the ballot box in 2007.

Ortega will be facing an increasingly difficult regional landscape in his new term. Leftist ally Venezuela is overwhelmed by an economic crisis and Cuba is normalizing relations with the U.S. The U.S. Congress is working on legislation to require Washington to oppose loans to Nicaragua from international lending institutions.

"The lack of Venezuelan support, the international price of oil, the price of our exports and the possibility that (U.S. legislation passes) makes it a more complicated outlook for the Ortega in the next term," said Oscar Rene Vargas, a sociologist and economist at Central American University.</s>MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — President Daniel Ortega cast his ballot just before polls closed in Nicaragua's elections Sunday evening, and he appeared to have a clear path to a third consecutive term — this time accompanied by his wife as vice president.



Going into the election, opinion polls said the former guerrilla fighter was likely to receive more than 50 percent of the votes and avoid a runoff in a field that included five other lesser-known candidates. He was running with his wife, Rosario Murillo, as his vice presidential candidate.



"It is an exemplary, historic election," Murillo said after she and her husband voted, while critics of the government called the vote unfairly tilted against the opposition.



Ninety-two congressional seats were also being contested. First returns were not expected until late Sunday.



Electoral council chief Roberto Rivas said early in the day that there was high turnout among Nicaragua's 3.8 million registered voters, although officials did not report any specific estimate. The main opposition group, the Broad Front for Democracy, said late in the day that turnout was low and that many voters had heeded a call to boycott the election.



Ortega and his leftist Sandinista National Liberation Front have benefited from the Central American country's steady economic growth and low levels of violence compared to neighboring Honduras and El Salvador. Many Nicaraguans also cite the first lady's social programs as a major reason for the governing party's popularity.



But critics accused Ortega and his allies of manipulating the political system to guarantee he stayed in power for a new five-year term by dominating all branches of government, allowing indefinite presidential re-election and delegitimizing the only opposition force seen as capable of challenging him. They said he wants to form a political dynasty together with his wife.



"I don't think it's worth voting and wasting time, because it's already fixed," said Glenda Bendana, an appliance sales executive in a Managua shopping mall. "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."



Eva Duarte Castillo, with a degree in marketing, was among those who went to the polls, though she didn't say how she voted. "I came to vote because it is not only my right as a citizen, it is also my duty. It is a responsibility and I exercised it. I'm happy," she said at a polling station in the capital's Altamira Managua neighborhood.



In July, Nicaragua's Supreme Electoral Council effectively decimated the opposition by ousting almost all its members from congress — 28 active and alternate legislators from the Liberal Independent Party and the allied Sandinista Renovation Movement — for refusing to recognize Pedro Reyes as their leader. Reyes was named head of the opposition by the Supreme Court but is seen by many as a tool of Ortega. The ousted legislators supported former opposition leader Eduardo Montealegre.



The most powerful opposition forces moved to the sidelines of the nation's politics, urging Nicaraguans to boycott the election, which they called a "farce."



Many Nicaraguans, including political analyst Carlos Tunnerman, believed the five other presidential candidates were not true opponents, but were placed on the ballot to make it seem that Ortega had legitimate competition.



"The only thing they are looking to do is play along with Ortega, permitting him to get additional small bits of power in the National Assembly, Tunnerman said.



Candidate Maximino Rodriguez of the Liberal Constitutional Party rejected that idea, saying, "I only collaborate with the Nicaraguan people."



Ortega, who helped topple the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza as a Sandinista guerrilla leader, ruled Nicaragua in 1979-1990. After losing power in a shock electoral defeat, he later returned to the presidency through the ballot box in 2007.



Re-election would leave Ortega in power but facing an increasingly difficult regional landscape.



Leftist ally Venezuela is overwhelmed by an economic crisis and Cuba is normalizing relations with the U.S.



The U.S. House of Representatives has moved to punish Nicaragua since the opposition was gutted, passing a bill to require the United States to oppose loans to Nicaragua from international lending institutions unless the country takes "effective steps to hold free, fair and transparent elections." A companion bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate.



"The lack of Venezuelan support, the international price of oil, the price of our exports and the possibility that (U.S. legislation passes) makes it a more complicated outlook for the Ortega in the next term," said Oscar Rene Vargas, a sociologist and economist at Central American University.</s>Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega was on track to win a fourth term in office on Monday, with his wife Rosario Murillo as his vice president, partial official election results showed.

But the opposition, sidelined by the leftist president, said it would not recognise the outcome and branded the vote a “farce.”

With 66 per cent of ballots counted, Mr Ortega’s Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) had 72 per cent of the vote, the country’s Supreme Electoral Council said in a report. That matched pre-election surveys indicating a big win for Ortega and the FSLN.

His nearest competitor, the right-leaning Liberal Constitutionalist Party, had just 14 per cent of the vote, the council said. Sunday’s vote was for the presidency and to choose legislators in the National Assembly.

Full official results will be given at 11:00 am on Monday, said the head of the electoral council, Roberto Rivas.

“We don’t recognise the results of this farce,” Violeta Granera, head of one of the opposition parties, the Broad Front of Democracy, told reporters before the partial tally. She said the opposition had calculated turnout at less than 30 per cent. She said the vote lacked legitimacy and showed “a high level of civil rebellion.” Ortega has been accused of being behind judicial manoeuvers to limit the power of the opposition.

Mr Ortega has controversially proposed building a transoceanic canal through the area, to rival Panama’s. But government and electoral officials described the elections as a formidable exercise in democracy, conducted in “calm.”

They account for more than a third of the population and have benefited from social programs.

But with billions of dollars in credit from troubled ally Venezuela drying up, and massive infrastructure projects — such as the mooted canal — failing to materialize, Nicaragua’s prospects are clouding over.

If the final results confirm his triumph, it would be the president’s fourth mandate.

Ortega has served two consecutive terms since 2007, and previously between 1985 and 1990, when his Sandinista rebels emerged victorious from a revolution that toppled a dictatorial dynasty.

Murillo, 65, already fills a prominent role as his government’s spokeswoman and is seen as possibly taking over as president in the future.

She has also left her mark on the capital, ordering the erection of tall, metal “trees of life” that decorate the main boulevard in bright colours.

She called to mind Cristina Kirchner, who succeeded her husband Nestor Kirchner as president of Argentina, and Hillary Clinton in the United States, who is vying to become president with her husband and former president Bill Clinton by her side.</s>Polls show the former guerrilla fighter easily winning Sunday's presidential election with more than 50 of the vote in a field that includes five other lesser-known candidates. He's running with his wife, Rosario Murillo, as his candidate.

Nicaragua's steady economic growth and low levels of violence compared to Honduras and El Salvador have won support for Ortega and his leftist Sandinista National Liberation Front. Many Nicaraguans also cite the first lady's social programs as a major reason for the governing party's popularity.

But his critics say his allies have manipulated the Central American country's political system to guarantee he stays in power by dominating its branches of government, allowing indefinite presidential re-election and delegitimizing the only opposition force seen as capable of challenging him. They accuse him of wanting to form a political dynasty together with his wife.

"I don't think it's worth voting and wasting time, because it's already fixed," said Glenda Bendana, an appliance sales executive in a Managua shopping mall. "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."

In July, Nicaragua's Supreme Electoral Council effectively decimated the opposition by ousting almost all its members from congress — 28 active and alternate legislators from the Liberal Independent Party and its ally the Sandinista Renovation Movement — for not recognizing Pedro Reyes as their leader. Reyes was appointed as head of the opposition by the Supreme Court but is seen by many as a tool of Ortega. The ousted legislators had supported former opposition leader Eduardo Montealegre.

Since then, the most powerful opposition forces have moved to the sidelines of the nation's politics, urging Nicaraguans to join their boycott of the election, which they call a "farce."

Many Nicaraguans, including political analyst Carlos Tunnerman, believe that the five other presidential candidates are not true opponents, but were placed on the ballot to make it seem that Ortega has legitimate competition.

"The only thing they are looking to do is play along with Ortega, permitting him to get additional small bits of power in the National Assembly, Tunnerman said.

Ortega, who helped topple the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza as a Sandinista guerrilla leader, ruled Nicaragua from 1979-1990. After losing power in a shock electoral defeat, he later returned to power through the ballot box, assuming the presidency in 2007.

Much of the criticism of Ortega dates back to 2010 when Nicaragua's Supreme Court, dominated by Sandinista-friendly judges, declared unconstitutional an article that barred the nation's president from running for a consecutive term. Ortega's detractors say it was the first step in ensuring his long-term hold on the country.

His current campaign for another five-year presidential term has been low key, without the massive rallies of elections past. Voters will also elect a new legislature.

"They are the dullest and least brilliant campaigns that we have had in recent times," political analyst Cairo Amador said.

"There are styles of campaigning," he said. "We're trying to make it the most environmentally friendly, doing events in towns, not big gatherings."</s>Ortega and his running mate, his wife Rosario Murillo, have nearly 70 percent support, according to a recent poll, tapping into strong voter approval for a drop in poverty in one of the poorest countries in the Americas since he took office in 2007.

Emerging as leader of the Sandinista movement that toppled dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979, Ortega served one term as president in the 1980s before being sidelined for years.

By the time he won Nicaragua's 2006 election he was talking about Jesus Christ in his speeches.

Opponents have accused Ortega of trying to set up a "family dictatorship" since he appointed relatives to key posts, and after his Sandinistas pushed constitutional changes through Congress that ended presidential term limits in 2014.

"Ortega gets his way and he doesn't care if he violates the rights of others," said Maximino Rodriguez, candidate of the center-right Liberal Constitutionalist Party (PLC), Ortega's closest rival polling just 8 percent support.

"Supposedly he fought against the Somoza dictatorship, and the Sandinistas themselves regard Ortega as worse than Somoza," he added, arguing Ortega was just trying to cling to power.

There is certainly no obvious challenger.

The opposition has been in disarray since Pedro Reyes used the courts to wrest leadership of the Independent Liberal Party (PLI), the main group, from Eduardo Montealegre in June.

PLI congressmen who refused to accept the decision, calling Reyes a puppet of Ortega, were dismissed.

Hernan Selva, a 22-year-old engineering student and Ortega supporter, dismissed as "the kicks of a drowning man" the complaints by Rodriguez, who fought the Sandinistas in the 1980s as part of a right-wing paramilitary force known as the Contras.

U.S. and international organizations voiced concern about Montealegre's ouster and Ortega's refusal to host international observers for the vote. Still, the World Bank acknowledges that under Ortega, poverty has fallen almost 13 percentage points.

Ortega, who has made few campaign appearances, has promised to defend his social and economic achievements if he wins.

A substantial part of those gains have been funded by Venezuelan petrodollars that have underpinned social programs, helped private business, and slashed energy costs.

Ortega has also forged alliances with entrepreneurs, helping Nicaragua to achieve average growth of 5 percent in the past five years, buttressed by high prices for its meat, coffee and gold exports, as well as remittances and foreign investment.

Despite some ups and downs, Ortega and U.S. President Barack Obama have maintained a relatively cordial relationship, demonstrating the 70-year-old's dramatic shift from a leftist firebrand to a diplomat who maintains ties with a Cold War foe.

A U.S. bill known as the Nica Act seeks to condition financial assistance to Nicaragua on improvements in democracy, human rights, and battling anti-corruption, leading Ortega's government to decry "interference" from Washington in September.</s>(CNN) Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega is widely expected to win his fourth term in elections on Sunday -- this time with his wife as his running mate.

First lady Rosario Murillo has long been the country's unofficial co-president, effectively running the government, analysts of Nicaraguan politics say.

In August, when the couple made their ticket official, Ortega said she was the best running mate he could choose: "Who better (to be vice president) than my companera, who has so far done an efficient and effective job with much discipline and sacrifice."

The move by Ortega, a socialist and former guerrilla leader, is not without controversy as critics have accused the couple of skirting laws while building a political dynasty.

Nicaragua's Constitution bars candidates who are relatives of the current President from running, however the Supreme Court of Nicaragua has said there was no legal impediment for the Ortega-Murillo ticket.

"It makes no sense," said Eliseo Nunez, a former opposition lawmaker, maintaining that the Ortega-Murillo ticket clearly violates the Constitution. "It's like saying: My brother-in-law can't run because he is related to my wife, but my wife can run."

Adding Murillo to the ticket is a way for Ortega, who will be 71 in a week, to ensure a political succession plan, said Michael Allison, a political scientist with the University of Scranton.

"Daniel and Rosario have been consolidating power for over 10 years," he said.

Despite cries of foul by opposition, Ortega has strong support in the country, Allison added.

Ortega came to power as part of the Sandinista rebels who overthrew the Somoza dynasty in 1979. He fought against the U.S.-backed contras during the 1980s and has remained a key ally to Venezuela.

He was first elected as President in 1985, and ran unsuccessfully in 1990, 1996 and 2001 before being elected again in 2006 and 2011.

Before Ortega's term, Presidents in Nicaragua were not allowed to serve consecutive terms, but that didn't stop him in 2011.

In 2014, he used his power to pressure lawmakers to do away with term limits, allowing him to run in Sunday's election.

Since her husband took office in 2007, Murillo has been by his side, offering a warm shoulder and smile to the country, reshaping Ortega's brand by softening his image, and steering his political agenda. She is a writer, poet and avid activist.

Murillo has long been the face of Ortega's administration, said Christine Wade, a political scientist and the co-author of "Nicaragua: Living in the Shadow of the Eagle."

"Some people consider her to be the power behind the man," Wade said. "She's played a very significant role in some of the popular social programs in Nicaragua. She's the face of the administration, she runs Cabinet meetings and she has very popular radio programs."

Murillo, 65, runs many of the country's most widely embraced social programs -- which remain popular among the country's poor.

"He wasn't particularly popular and neither was she," Wade said. "She has really become a force to be reckoned with in Nicaraguan politics, for better or for worse, and I think that now she has been given a title that actually reflects the work that she has been doing all along."

Some opposition lawmakers have been kicked out of the electoral process and international monitors had initially been told to stay home during these elections, prompting an international outcry.

In September, a bill in the U.S. Congress dubbed the Nica Act was introduced that would block American loans to Nicaragua unless it took "effective steps to hold free, fair, and transparent elections, and for other purposes."

Ortega has allowed the Organization of American States and other unnamed international groups to have a limited role in overseeing Sunday's election, the Nicaraguan Embassy in Washington said.
Voters in Nicaragua go to the polls for a general election with polls suggesting that the President of Nicaragua Daniel Ortega will be elected for a third successive term. Ortega's wife Rosario Murillo is running to be the Vice President of Nicaragua.