Profile: Nicaraguan President Ortega poised to win third consecutive term

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega is poised to win a third consecutive term, and his fourth overall, in general elections this Sunday.

Polls show Ortega, 70, enjoys a substantial lead over his rivals, thanks to an economy that is humming along, improving living standards for average Nicaraguans, and an opposition that is in disarray.

Writing for the Inter-American Dialogue on Friday, journalist and political analyst Adolfo Pastran said: "His government has maintained a healthy economy, with significant increase in direct foreign investment of 1.5 billion U.S. dollars per year," and "Ortega has said he will continue doing the same and better in order to maintain a healthy economy, reduce poverty, engage in dialogue with the private sector, and improve public safety and the lives of Nicaraguans."

Meanwhile, the opposition, according to Pastran, is afflicted by "division" and "fragmentation," appears "disconnected from the public," and lacks "an economic plan or a social alternative."

A leader of the Sandinista movement that overthrew Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979, Ortega became the country's first post-revolutionary president, serving until 1990.

As the candidate of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), he lost his reelection bid in 1990 to Violeta Chamorro, the U.S.-backed candidate of the National Opposition Union (UNO), a coalition of 14 parties.

Ortega lost subsequent elections, but again won the presidency in 2006, taking office in 2007, and was reelected in 2011 with more than 60 percent of the votes. Enditem