MANAGUA,  (Reuters) – Nicaragua’s Supreme Court  lifted a constitutional barrier on Monday to President Daniel  Ortega seeking re-election, opening the way to the leftist  running for another term in the 2011 election.  

The court’s constitutional arm issued a ruling blocking  restrictions on a president running for another term, following  a petition from Ortega and a group of mayors last week, and the  country’s electoral court said it would comply with the move.  

The Supreme Court ruling requires formal approval by 16  state judges but the head of the constitutional courtroom,  Francisco Rosales, said the ruling was expected to stand.  

The move by the country’s highest legal power means Ortega  could run as a candidate in the 2011 presidential election  without having to seek national assembly backing to change the  constitution or hold a public referendum on the issue.  

Latin American countries are increasingly wrestling with  the issue of presidential term limits as leftists such as  Venezuela’s self-styled socialist President Hugo Chavez seek to  stay in power as long as they can win elections.  

Central America is locked in its worst political crisis in  decades after Honduras toppled and exiled President Manuel  Zelaya in June after that country’s Supreme Court said his bid  to seek support for lifting term limits was illegal.  

Ortega — a left-wing former guerrilla fighter whose  Sandinista rebels fought U.S.-backed government forces during a  Cold War-era civil war — said in July Nicaragua should move to  remove term limits for presidents and mayors after the issue  drove neighboring Honduras to mount a coup.