Nicaraguan Sandinistas Re-Nominate Ortega for President

Daniel Ortega will seek a third consecutive presidential term after his leftist Sandinista Party late Saturday nominated him as their candidate for Nicaragua's elections in November.

A polarizing figure who has been in office since 2006 -- not counting his 1985-1990 stint as president -- Ortega was unanimously nominated by the party's nearly 2,000 mostly young delegates. The event was closed to the press.

In a speech prior to his nomination, Ortega said he would not allow international monitors to observe the election.

"Shameless observers," said Ortega, 70. "Observation is ended here. Let them go observe in their own countries."

Ortega faces a split and unpopular opposition. Recent polls show that he has 57 percent voter support, far ahead of his main rival, Independent Liberal Party legislator Luis Callejas.

Ortega's Sandinista National Liberation Front party was born out of the 1970s rebel movement that toppled US-backed dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979.

In 2014, amid controversy, Ortega had a law passed that scrapped a previous limit of two consecutive five-year terms for presidents. The legislation also gave him new powers.

Ortega, a former rebel, has positioned himself as an anti-American leader, cultivating relationships with the leftist leaders of Venezuela and Cuba.

The date chosen, November 6, means Nicaragua's elections will take place two days before the United States holds its presidential election.

In addition to the president, the polls will choose the post of vice president and the lawmakers in the 92-seat National Assembly. Their five-year terms will begin in January 2017.