NEW DELHI

Nicaraguan presidential elections were dubbed a "sham" by US President Joe Biden on Sunday, as incumbent Daniel Ortega was guaranteed of victory after his competitors were thrown out. 

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"What Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, orchestrated today was a pantomime election that was neither free nor fair, and most certainly not democratic," Biden said in a White House statement on "Nicaragua's sham elections."

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Ortega's administration "fixed the outcome well before election day" by imprisoning 39 opposition activists in recent months, including seven potential presidential candidates, and "blocked political groups."

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Biden also chastised Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega for suppressing and "bullying" independent media, the business sector, and civil society. 

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"Long unpopular and now without a democratic mandate, the Ortega and Murillo family now rule Nicaragua as autocrats," Biden said.

Nicaraguans went to the polls on Sunday under an atmosphere of terror in the poor Central American country, according to rights groups.

After 11 hours of voting under the careful eye of 30,000 police and troops, polling booths closed at 6:00 pm (0000 GMT).

With his wife Murillo, 70, by his side, Ortega, 75, is poised to win a fourth consecutive five-year term, his fifth total.

Biden called on Ortega "to take immediate steps to restore democracy" and for the release of "those unjustly imprisoned."

The United States "will use all diplomatic and economic tools at our disposal to support the people of Nicaragua and hold accountable the Ortega-Murillo government and those that facilitate its abuses," the president added.

Washington, along with the European Union, has already imposed sanctions against Ortega family members and allies amid the wave of arrests in the lead up to Sunday's vote.

(With inputs from agencies)