And yet with around 14 per cent of the votes counted leftist Ortega had around 40 per cent of the ballots, a percentage that - if confirmed by the final tally - would give him the presidency of the Central American country without going to a runoff.
While supporters of Ortega's Sandinista National Liberation Front went out into the streets to celebrate the early triumph, dissident Sandinistas, and right-wing representatives of both the Liberal Constitutionalist Party (PLC) and the Liberal National Alliance (ALN) questioned whether electoral rules had been respected.
Eduardo Montealegre, who according to preliminary results has close to 33 per cent of the vote putting him in second place, told supporters at a hotel in Managua that the election would be settled in a runoff, and indicated that 'no one has won the election yet.'
The former minister for finance and foreign affairs, but also other parties, base their position on a quick count carried out by a private institution.
According to this study, Ortega will not get 40 per cent of the vote or 35 per cent with a margin of at least 5 percentage points over his nearest rival - the two legally-prescribed conditions for a first-round win.
Should the leftist Ortega fail to win the election outright, he will have to go to a second round within 45 days. Montealegre would then presumably be the candidate of all 'antidanielistas' and a favourite to take the poll.
Political forces in the Central American country appear to be divided in two blocs - the leftist Sandinistas and the conservative liberals.
Dissidents have broken away from both parties for various reasons. Reformed Sandinistas of the MRS, whose candidate Edmundo Jarquin appeared fourth in Sunday's election, are as keen as Montealegre's ALN to avoid Ortega winning back the presidency.
The ALN in turn broke away from the PLC of former president Arnoldo Aleman when he was convicted of corruption and condemned to a 20-year jail term in 2003.
Aleman and Ortega made a deal that sparked a political crisis at the beginning of this year. With their majority in the National Assembly, they pushed through reforms that were bitterly opposed by outgoing President Enrique Bolanos - a liberal dissident.
Among other things, the reforms achieved a reduction of the president's powers and a modification of the country's electoral legislation. The deal gave both parties control over a series of key institutions, including the electoral authority and Nicaragua's highest courts.
For this reason the election of a new legislature that also took place Sunday is also of vital importance. The new head of state would need the support of the National Assembly in order to have a viable presidency in the face of institutions controlled by Ortega's Sandinistas and Aleman's liberals.
With the mediation of the Organization of American States (OAS), the implementation of these reforms was postponed till the inauguration of the new president - in the hope that his name would not be Daniel Ortega.
Montealegre, who has the support of the United States, intends to maintain the pragmatic course of Bolanos' economic policy, and he also favours close cooperation with the US as well as with other Central American countries.
Nicaraguan governments since 1990 have implemented some democratic and economic reforms, but these have not trickled down to the masses in a nation where 80 per cent of the population of 5.5 million live in poverty.
Ortega was president from 1985-90, during which time the country was gripped by a civil war pitting the Marxist Sandinistas against US-sponsored Contras that left more than 50,000 people dead. In 1990, Ortega was defeated when an anti-Sandinista alliance helped elect Violeta Barrios de Chamorro.
With the support of controversial Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Ortega has vowed to put an end to 'savage capitalism.'
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