NOVEMBER 4 (REUTERS (TAVERNA) )

CU Newspaper with pictures of candidates PAN TO people queuing at polling stations.

Background: Nicaraguan authorities reported an eighty per cent turnout on November 4 in the first election held since the 1979 revolution overthrew the right wing dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza. Main opposition parties boycotted the poll and victory for the ruling Sandinist National Liberation Front (FSLN) seems to be a forgone conclusion. First results are not expected before noon local time on November 5. There were no reports of major violence, but armed troops stood by in rural areas to guard against any attack by US-backed rebels who are fighting the government. A policeman was reported killed after insurgents ambushed a vehicle carrying members of the electoral police in Matagalpa province. At a news conference on November 4, the President of the Supreme Electoral Council, Mariano Fiallos, said that two polling stations had been closed under threat of attack and that nine near the border with Honduras, had failed to open because of rebel activity. US President Reagan has condemned the elections as a "Soviet-style sham" and said that if he were re-elected he would ask for aid to Nicaraguan rebels to be renewed.