Nicaragua's current president, Daniel Ortega, is paired with his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, to lead the 2021 Sovereign Election in a preliminary vote count, said Brenda Rocha, chair of the country's Supreme Electoral Council, CSE.
"Sandinista Front - 1,014,624 votes, 74.99%," Rocha said at the press conference in Managua.
At the time of the announcement of the preliminary results, 49.25% of the votes were counted. The final results of the vote will be announced on Tuesday afternoon.
The winners in the first round will be the pair of candidates with 45% of the vote, or 35%, with a 5% lead over the next candidate. The inauguration of the President and Vice President of Nicaragua is scheduled for January 10, the day after the start of the new parliament.
The main rival of the Sandinistas in this election is the Constitutional Liberal Party PLC and its candidate Walter Espinosa, the current member of parliament, is gaining 14.4%.
According to the CEC preliminary data, 65.34% of voters took part in the elections.
In office, the 75-year-old President Daniel Ortega is close to re-election for a fourth consecutive term and the fifth in his political career - he has already won presidential elections in 1984, 2006, 2011 and 2016. The president's wife, Rosario Murillo, who is Nicaragua's vice president, is running for the post for the second time.
Observers from Abkhazia and South Ossetia have positively assessed the organization of the presidential and parliamentary elections in Nicaragua, representatives of both republics did not reveal any violations during the electoral process.
