(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. </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> 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> The Treasury Department on Tuesday imposed sanctions on Nicaragua’s vice president and its national security adviser, in the latest move to put pressure on the regime of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.

The sanctions against Nicaraguan Vice President Rosario Murillo, who is also the country’s first lady, and adviser Nestor Moncada Lau followed President Trump’s signing of an executive order allowing the Treasury Department to block the property and interests of Nicaraguan officials.

The text of the order, which was issued Tuesday, states that the action was taken in response to the Nicaraguan government’s corruption, its “violent response” to protests and its “systematic dismantling and undermining of democratic institutions and the rule of law.”

“Vice President Murillo and her political operators have systematically sought to dismantle democratic institutions and loot the wealth of Nicaragua to consolidate their grip on power,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. “Treasury is intent on ensuring that Ortega regime insiders are not able to access the U.S. financial system to profit at the expense of the Nicaraguan people.”

Ortega, 73, came to power in 1979 as part of a government built by the Sandinista National Liberation Front guerrillas who overthrew President Anastasio Somoza, a longtime U.S. ally.

First elected to a six-year term as president in 1984 as head of the Sandinista party, he lost the next three electoral rounds, only to win the next three, most recently in 2016, when his wife, Murillo, ran as his vice president. The Nicaraguan people, he said, would have a “50-50” presidency between the two of them. Murillo, 67, is outspoken and well-organized compared with Ortega’s somewhat bland public persona and had already long been a visible wielder of power.

Despite increasingly autocratic tendencies, allegations of electoral fraud and conspicuous unearned wealth, Ortega managed to co-opt much of the business community and, unlike much of the rest of Central America, maintain relative peace and a sustained growth rate of at least 4 percent with the help of international bank loans and deeply discounted fuel supplies from Venezuela.

But a sharp decrease in those supplies, as Venezuela’s economy and oil exports have nose-dived, led the Ortega-Murillo government to look for places to cut the budget. When they announced in April that the were decreasing public pensions, Nicaragua erupted in violence.

Protest demonstrations joined senior citizens with students angry over the paucity of jobs — many of which were reserved for Sandinista supporters. The government responded with repressive force that sparked new demonstrations by students and political opponents, sparking even more force by the government and its paramilitary militias that has left hundreds of protesters and uninvolved civilians dead.

The Trump administration, which had displayed little interest in Nicaragua to that point, responded by supporting mediation efforts by the Organization of American States and the Catholic Church that eventually collapsed. As administration criticism and sanctions against Venezuela increased along with government repression and violence against civilians in that country, the White House turned its attention toward Nicaragua.

In a speech in Miami earlier this month, national security adviser John Bolton vowed to confront Nicaragua, which he said was part of the “troika of tyranny” along with Cuba and Venezuela.

“This triangle of terror stretching from Havana to Caracas to Managua, is the cause of immense human suffering, the impetus of enormous regional instability, and the genesis of a sordid cradle of communism in the Western Hemisphere,” Bolton said. “Under President Trump, the United States is taking action against all three regimes to defend the rule of law, liberty and basic human decency in our region.”

The administration had already minimized ties with Cuba, reversing the opening pursued by President Barack Obama, and has imposed escalating sanctions on the Venezuelan government of President Nicolás Maduro. In the speech, Bolton criticized Ortega for his “regime’s violence and repression against its citizens and opposition members.” The Nicaraguan government, he said, “like Venezuela and Cuba, will feel the full weight of America’s robust sanctions regime.”

In a conference call with reporters, Trump administration officials cast the sanctions on Murillo and Lau as the first step in fulfilling that pledge. Sigal Mandelker, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence at the Treasury Department, said there was “no question in our mind” that the move would have a significant impact on the Nicaraguan government. </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> Image copyright AFP/Getty Images Image caption Daniel Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo have ruled Nicaragua for more than a decade

The US has imposed sanctions on Nicaragua's Vice-President Rosario Murillo, the wife of President Daniel Ortega, accusing her of corruption and serious human rights abuses.

She is believed to have held influence over a youth organisation that the US says engaged in extra-judicial killings, torture and kidnapping.

Sanctions were also imposed on the presidential couple's security adviser.

Ms Murillo has ruled Nicaragua jointly with Mr Ortega for more than a decade.

She is accused of controlling the police and the youth wing of the governing Sandinista Liberation Front.

On Tuesday, the US Treasury said it was using a new executive order issued by US President Donald Trump to punish Ms Murillo, accusing her of undermining Nicaragua's democracy.

Meanwhile her aide - and the president's security adviser - Néstor Moncada Lau was accused of carrying out orders by paying armed groups to attack protestors during months of anti-government disturbances earlier this year.

The sanctions will ban US individuals, banks and other entities from carrying out transactions with the pair, who will also have any assets that fall under US jurisdiction frozen.

Nicaragua has been through huge upheaval this year. In April, anti-government protesters demanded that the socialist president, Mr Ortega, step down over unpopular pension reforms.

However, he refused to negotiate and instead sent in the security forces.

Hundreds were then killed in the space of weeks.

Earlier this month, opposition activist Félix Maradiaga told the BBC that human rights in Nicaragua were at the "most severe crisis in generations".

Mr Maradiaga was forced to flee his country in July after receiving death threats.
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.