MORE than 180 international observers are set to monitor next Sunday’s elections in Nicaragua, Vice-President Rosario Murillo confirmed on Saturday.

Representatives from Europe, Russia, Guatemala, Honduras and other Latin American countries will form delegations to oversee the polls.

More than 4.4 million people are registered to vote in the elections for the president and vice-president, 90 lawmakers and 20 representatives to the parliament.

President Daniel Ortega is expected to win the presidential election and his Sandinista National Liberation Front is leading the parliamentary polls.

But he warned last week of continued efforts by the United States to destabilise the Central American country, and accused Washington of interfering in the upcoming elections.

“It is every country’s right to defend its peace and sovereignty,” he said. “That is what we will do, in accordance with United Nations Charter. 

“The Nicaraguan people are the only ones responsible to resolve their problems.”

The US has a long history of intervention in Nicaragua, waging a devastating war against the democratically elected Sandinista government via the illegal funding of Contra death squads.

It pumped millions of dollars into opposition groups, openly backing the eventual victor of the 1990 presidential elections, Violeta Chamorro, having promised to end the Contra war and economic blockade if she won.

The US has imposed a raft of punitive sanctions on Nicaragua while funding a range of opposition media organisations, NGOs and political figures, as well as supporting a failed coup attempt in 2018.

Washington insists that the Nicaraguan authorities have been waging an authoritarian crackdown after the arrest of a number of high-profile opposition figures.

Those arrested are accused of serious crimes, including money laundering and advising the US on how to undermine the Sandinista government, including lobbying for sanctions.

The Morning Star will be on the ground in Managua to report on the Nicaraguan elections.