Nicaragua's President-elect Daniel Ortega has said he will not impose any radical change in economic policy on the country.
The one-time revolutionary, who claimed victory in Sunday's election, says he wants to maintain economic stability.
The US, which had campaigned against Mr Ortega, has pledged to work with him if his government backs democracy.
But Mr Ortega says he wants to ensure dignity for the 80% of Nicaraguan families who live on $2 a day or less.
Revolutionary past
Washington had previously warned that Mr Ortega's election could lose Nicaragua US aid.
Mr Ortega was congratulated by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Other regional leaders were also quick to praise Mr Ortega on his victory, including a leftist ally from his earlier period in power, Cuban President Fidel Castro.
Mr Ortega will take office in January next year.
He led Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, but says he has changed from the leader who seized property from the wealthy during the 1979 Sandinista revolution.
As a Marxist revolutionary in the 1980s, Mr Ortega led the country through a decade of civil war in which his Sandinista forces fought rebels known as the Contras, who were financed by the US. About 50,000 people died in the conflict.
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