Ortega, who served as president from 1985-90, toned down his once fiery rhetoric during the campaign, promising to support the Central American Free Trade Agreement and even maintain good relations with Washington.

The balding, 60-year-old leftist often appears more preacher than revolutionary, calling for peace and reconciliation and urging his supporters to pray.

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.

An Ortega victory would cap a 16-year quest to return to his old job. Ortega lost the presidency in 1990, ending Sandinista rule and the Contra war. He has run for president in every election since.

Ortega's vote percentage was similar to what he received in his last two failed presidential bids, but the right was divided this time between Montealegre and ruling party candidate Jose Rizo. The constitution allowed him to win on the first round with only 35 percent of the vote and a lead of five percentage points over his closest rival.

With more than 60 percent of the vote counted, Ortega had 39 percent to Montealegre's 31 percent. Three other candidates trailed: Rizo, Sandinista dissident Edmundo Jarquin and Pastora. Statistical surveys of votes conducted by two respected Nicaraguan electoral watchdog groups also gave Ortega a similar margin.

Many Nicaraguans who fled the country for the U.S. during Sandinista rule, and even those who left later, said they feared an Ortega victory would mean a return to the chaos the country suffered during the 1980s. But Nicaraguans in the U.S. said they hoped Ortega's election would be a wake-up call to the country's opposition to better respond to the needs of Nicaraguans.

"They are talking that there will be more problems again, more violence, but you have to hope that that won't happen. You have to hope that there will be a change," said Managuan native Josefa Ortega, 49, as she sold avocados and fruit outside a shopping center in Miami.

Electoral observers have said the vote was mostly peaceful and orderly, despite long lines and angry confrontations by people who said polling stations closed before they could vote. Observers from the Organization of American States said 2 percent of potential voters weren't able to cast a ballot, and they estimated turnout around 70 percent.

The race generated intense international interest, including a visit by Oliver North, the former White House aide at the heart of the Iran-Contra controversy, which created a huge scandal when it emerged that Washington secretly sold arms to Iran and used the money to arm the Contras.

These days, US money is flowing to Nicaragua in the form of investments by foreign companies drawn by the country's cheap labor, low crime rates and recent decision to join the Central American Free Trade Agreement.

Nicaraguan presidents cannot serve consecutive terms, and President Enrique Bolanos steps down Jan. 10.

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