Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega, a former Marxist revolutionary who fought US-backed insurgents in the 1980s, has won presidential elections in Nicaragua.
His rival Harvard-educated Eduardo Montealegre conceded defeat yesterday following the latest tally from the Sunday polls.
Mr Ortega said he would work to eliminate poverty, reassure investors and "create a new political culture" that would "set aside our differences and put the Nicaraguan people, the poor first."
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez
"We are showing the country that things are stable, that we can set aside our political positions and put first our commitment to pull Nicaragua out of poverty."
With 91 per cent of the vote counted, Mr Ortega had 38 per cent compared to 29 per cent for Mr Montealegre.
Under Nicaraguan law, the winner of Sunday's election must have 35 per cent of the vote and a five percentage-point lead to win outright and avoid a runoff.
Mr Ortega's supporters filled the streets, waving black-and-red party flags and singing his peace-and-reconciliation campaign song, set to the tune of John Lennon's Give Peace a Chance.
Mr Ortega spent most of the 1980s fighting a US-backed Contra insurgency. He lost the presidency in the 1990 election, ending Sandinista rule and years of civil war, and has spent the past 16 years trying to get his old job back.
Mr Ortega, who served as president from 1985-90, toned down his once-fiery rhetoric during the campaign, promising to support a regional free trade agreement with the US and maintain good relations with Washington.
He says he has changed profoundly since he befriended Soviet leaders, expropriated land and fought Contra rebels in a war that left 30,000 dead and the economy in shambles.
The US, which warned against an Ortega win, has declined to comment on the results.
But former US President Jimmy Carter, who served as an election observer, said yesterday that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice "assured me that no matter who was elected, the US will respond positively and favourably."
Nicaragua has now joined the list of Latin American nations with leftists at the helm. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has tried to help Mr Ortega by shipping discounted oil to the poor, energy-starved nation. "Latin America is ceasing to be - and forever - a backyard of US imperialism. Yankee, go home!" Mr Chavez said yesterday.
AP