Awwal 24, 1432 H/Feb 27, 2011, SPA -- Nicaragua's Sandinista Party has picked President Daniel Ortega as its candidate for presidential elections later this year, local media reported Sunday, after he succeeded in overturning a constitutional ban on re-election, according to dpa. The opposition had launched heavy protests in recent days against Ortega's plan to run in the November 6 presidential election, accusing him of violating the constitution. Ortega had earlier demanded that the election council change an article in Nicaragua's constitution preventing a president from holding two successive terms in office. The president said at a Sandinista Party meeting on Saturday that he would not allow any form of electoral observation that entailed foreign intervention and sought to overrule the country's electoral council. Ortega, 65, previously ruled Nicaragua from 1985 to 1990.
