Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Tuesday congratulated the Nicaraguan Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega on his victory in the presidential election, according to reports.

Chavez said that Ortega's victory showed the rising power of the left in Latin America and the "extreme right" governments in the region are doomed to disappear eventually.

He also called it a return of the Sandinistas, who ruled Nicaragua from 1979 to 1989 and named themselves after Augusto Cesar Sandino, the leader who fought against U.S., military presence in the region in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

According to the Nicaraguan electoral officials, with 91 percent of the votes counted, Ortega garnered 38 percent of the votes against the 29 percent secured by his closest rival Eduardo Montealegre.

Under Nicaraguan law, the winner must garner 35 percent and have a five-percentage point lead to avoid a runoff and win the election outright.

Ortega, 60, a Cold War era foe of the United States, led the country from 1979, after toppling the military dictator Somoza.

He won the presidency again in 1984 but lost the next election, and left power in 1990.

Source: Xinhua