Nicaragua's Ortega to win a third term

Daniel Ortega, Nicaragua's incumbent president is about to win a third term in office, following an early lead in Sunday's elections. While the results remain preliminary, that country's electoral commission is showing that Ortega, a former Marxist guerrilla leader, had at least 63.7percent of the vote based on reports from 18 percent of the polls.

MANAGUA, NICARAGUA (Catholic Online) - Fabio Gadea, a radio personality and businessmen was the next closest contender polling at just 30.8 percent.

Ortega's current lead is bigger than what was previously projected by opinion polls and some of Gadea's supporters have already accused Ortega's Sandinista party of electoral fraud.
Ortega held the presidency twice during the 1980s, and in 2009 was able to overturn the two term limits set by the national Constitution.

Ortega's wife and spokesperson said "this is the victory of Christianity, socialism and solidarity. Our promise is to keep building the common good."

Ortega supporters have been observed celebrating the victory, although the commission has not yet officially declared any winner. Throughout the capital city, Ortega supporters are outside by the thousands celebrating. Despite the celebrations, Ortega has remained quiet.

Opposition leaders also appear to be conferring with one another and may soon announce that they will not accept the results. Some are calling the election fraudulent because the margin of victory is so much greater than what was predicted by pre-election polls.

The Organization of American States has sent observers to monitor the election, and they have announced that their observers were kept out of 10 of 52 polling stations they were supposed to inspect. They have referred to this development as "worrying." According to former Argentine Chancellor and observer Dante Caputo, "that means we can't say that things went appropriately in 100 percent of the polling stations."

Ortega is a former commander of the Sandinista rebel army that overthrew the Nicaraguan government in 1979. Ortega has notably worked to improve the quality of life for Central America's poorest people, developing programs to improve health, education, and efforts to provide micro-credits and livestock.

Carla Floris, a 29-year-old mother of three, told reporters "there is no denying Ortega has done lots of good things, he's helped a lot of poor people. He's got to keep up the good work."

Of course it's that good work is the product of fraud, it will cast into question just how good that work truly is.

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