Nicaraguans will vote on Sunday to choose the country's president, vice president, 90 deputies of the National Assembly and 20 Central American parliamentarians.

The following are some key facts about the polls.

All Nicaraguan citizens over 16 years of age are eligible to vote. More than 3.66 million Nicaraguans out of the 5.1 million population have registered to vote in Sunday's elections.

Voting is scheduled to begin on Sunday at 7:00 a.m. local time (1300 GMT) and end at 6:00 p.m.(0000 GMT). There are 11,274 polling stations in 153 municipalities across the country.

Five candidates are competing for the presidency. Latest opinion polls showed that Daniel Ortega, candidate of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), gained 30-34 percent, well in the lead over his nearest rival Eduardo Montealegre (22-25.5 percent), candidate of the Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance-Conservative Party (ALN-PC) coalition.

Jose Rizo, candidate for the Liberal Constitutionalist Party (PLC), is in third place with 17-20 percent.

Under electoral laws, a candidate must garner 35 percent of the votes to win the presidency outright, and have a clear lead of at least five points over all the other candidates. Otherwise, a second round is to be held 40 days after the general elections.

Nicaragua's legislative body is the 90-member unicameral National Assembly. Deputies are directly elected for a five-year term.

The elections are being watched by 17,000 local and foreign observers, including those from the Organization of American States (OAS), the European Union (EU) and the U.S. Carter Center.

The observers include three former presidents: the United States' Jimmy Carter, Peru's Alejandro Toledo, and Panama's Nicolas Ardito Barletta.

Some 24,800 national police and soldiers have been deployed across the country for the elections.

Source: Xinhua