Nicaragua: Ortega wins presidency

MANAGUA, Nicaragua, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Nicaraguan Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega has been declared the official winner of the presidential election held earlier this week.

Ortega won 38 percent of the vote, final tallies showed. His closest rival, Harvard-educated center-right banker Eduardo Montealegre, lost by nine points.

Montealegre conceded defeat, but called for Ortega to stay true to his word to respect the country's free market reforms over the last 16 years.

Under Nicaraguan electoral law, Ortega only needed 35 percent of the vote, plus a 5 percent differential with the next closest candidate, to win the presidency outright in the first round and avoid a runoff.