First change: 07.11.2022 – 17:54
MANAGUA (Nicaragua) (AFP) – The electoral coalition led by Socialist President Daniel Ortega’s party overwhelmingly wins a majority of Nicaragua’s 153 mayors in Sunday’s elections, according to an official report with partial results released on Monday.
The Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) reported in the first report that the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN)-led coalition “Nicaragua Triunfa” had taken control of the 112 municipalities, including the capital Managua.
“We have successfully completed a civic and sovereign exercise,” CSE President Brenda Rocha said at a news conference offered 12 hours after the close of Sunday’s voting and without specifying the level of citizen participation.
The independent observatory Urnas Abiertas estimated abstention at 82.7%, with a turnout of 17.3%, according to a poll with 95% confidence.
The Sandinistas controlled 141 of the 153 mayoral positions at stake in the last period (2017-2022) and three others were occupied by the opposition, whose mayors were replaced by members of this party.
In this regard, opposition leaders believe the election result will “consolidate” Ortega’s power with near-total control over local governments.
More than 3.7 million Nicaraguans over the age of 16 were called upon to elect mayors, deputy mayors and councilors in the country’s 153 municipalities, in a process the exiled opposition called a “farce”.
A member of the National Police casts his vote at a ballot box in Managua’s municipal elections on November 6, 2022. OSWALDO RIVAS AFP
The FSLN participated along with four right-wing parties, which the opposition calls “collaborators” and an indigenous party from the two Caribbean regions.
According to the opposition bloc Unidad Nacional Azul y Blanco, with its leadership in exile, Ortega “performed this communal farce to strengthen his absolute control” in the country.
Ortega, who has ruled since 2007, was given a fourth consecutive term last year while his main rivals were jailed.
The 76-year-old president, who has been accused of authoritarianism, nepotism and corruption by his rivals, said after the vote.
In the opinion of the Sandinista dissident and independent academic Oscar René Vargas, also in exile, Ortega is trying to convince his critics that “he is here to stay in power” and perhaps to encourage a dialogue in the face of the crisis that the Country has witnessed since the 2018 opposition protests.
Photo released by the Presidency of Nicaragua of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega (right) and Vice President and First Lady Rosario Murillo (left) arriving in the Plaza de la Revolución for the commemoration of the 43 National Police in Managua, September 28 2022. Jairo CAJINA PRESIDENTIALITY OF NICARAGUA/AFP
The government views the move as an attempted coup backed by the United States. More than 200 opponents are imprisoned.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) expressed “concern” over complaints about the alleged arrest of at least eight people during the electoral process.
While the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on Friday lamented “the lack of minimum conditions” for the “holding of free elections” in Nicaragua.
© 2022 AFP