NICARAGUA (REUTERS) - He's a familiar face in Nicaragua and this sash is nothing new to him.

Daniel Ortega has officially begun his third term in office.

He cruised to victory with 72.5 per cent of the vote and his wife, Rosario Murillo, as vice president.

Nicaragua's national assembly scrapped presidential term limits in 2014, and that means Ortega could remain in power indefinitely.

Concerns run deep for opponents, who say he is establishing a "dictatorship."

His own stepdaughter protested the election from neighboring Costa Rica. She says the electoral process with Ortega virtually unopposed and with no international observers was outside of the law.

The US State Department says the country's electoral process is flawed.

But many Nicaraguans chose to overlook opponents' accusations.

With years of strong economic growth and poverty reduction, the 70-year-old former guerilla fighter won over voters for a third time.