Polls open in Nicaragua's presidential election

MANAGUA - The presidential and legislative elections in Nicaragua, where the ruling Sandinista Daniel Ortega is seeking reelection for five years, began quietly on Sunday,Long queues of voters formed from dawn on the outskirts of many of the more than 4,200 polling stations, where they are installed 12,960 polling stations, according to local media reports from across the country."I came from four in the morning to secure my right to vote. Hope all is calm," he told AFP Rene Silva, 46, who came with eight members of his family to a polling place Northwest sector Managua.On the eve of the elections there were clashes between supporters and opponents of Ortega in various parts of the country, with at least 17 wounded in a village in the northern department of Matagalpa, for what authorities called the people to fulfill this day in peace.Ortega, leader of the leftist Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), goes to the polls with 48% of voting intentions and a comfortable 18-point lead over his closest rival, businessman Fabio Gadea radial, the Independent Liberal Party right (PLI), according to the latest Gallup poll Cid.

The president, about to turn 66, who ruled in the 80 and returned to power in 2007, according to comfortably win the polls because election law requires 40% of valid votes or add a minimum of 35% with five points on the nearest opponent.The polls close at 18H00 local (00H00 GMT Monday), but after that time should be allowed to vote if voters remain straight.Some 200 delegates from the Organization of American States (OAS) and the European Union verify the election, while about 20,000 policemen, including riot forces and army personnel guarding the polling stations.A total of 3.4 million Nicaraguans over 16 years are registered to elect a president, vice president, 90 deputies to the National Assembly and 20 representatives to the European Parliament .