MANAGUA, Nicaragua — One-time Sandinista revolutionary Daniel Ortega took a big early lead in presidential elections Sunday, according to preliminary results, amid reports of protests and international observers being blocked from participating.
Electoral council president Roberto Rivas said Ortega, the incumbent and heavy favorite, had almost 64 percent of the votes compared with 29 percent for his nearest challenger, Fabio Gadea. Conservative Arnoldo Aleman, a former president, was a distant third with 6 percent.
The result came with almost 7 percent of the votes counted.
Polls closed with international election observers reporting problems with access to voting stations and with one national group of observers, Let’s Have Democracy, reporting 600 complaints of voting irregularities, a handful of injuries in protests and 30 arrests.
In nearby Guatemala, preliminary results Sunday showed Otto Perez Molina, 61, a retired general from the right-wing Patriotic Party, had 55 percent of the vote compared with 45 percent for Manuel Baldizon, 41, of the Democratic Freedom Revival party, with 96 percent of the votes counted, according to the nation’s electoral tribunal.
