Ortega wins Nicaraguan presidency

MANAGUA, Nicaragua

Daniel Ortega, the former Sandinista president who ruled Nicaragua during the 1980s, has won the presidency again, electoral observers said Monday.

The leftist Ortega won with 38.49 percent of the vote, reported Ethics and Transparency, an independent electoral firm. His closest competitor, center-right Harvard-educated banker Eduardo Montealegre, garnered 29.52 percent.

Only 15 percent of the ballots have been officially tabulated by Nicaraguan electoral officials.

According to Nicaraguan electoral law, Ortega only needed 35 percent of the vote, plus a 5 percent differential with the next closest candidate to win the presidency outright in the first round.

Thousands of Ortega supports took to the streets early Monday waving flags of his now ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front.