Nicaragua’s president poised to win poll with several former opponents in prison

Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega and his wife and Vice President Rosario Murillo (Alfredo Zuniga/AP)

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega was ahead by a wide margin in his bid for a fourth consecutive term in preliminary vote tallies for an election widely considered rigged.

Mr Ortega had received 75%, an apparently insurmountable total, with nearly half of polling places counting, said Brenda Rocha, president of the Supreme Electoral Council.