In Nicaragua, municipal elections were held this Sunday, November 6. A ballot whose outcome is unsurprising given the control exercised by President Daniel Ortega and his supporters over the country. A locked country.
It was almost a year ago to the day. Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega was re-elected for a fourth term back to back in a no-stakes ballot. He had won with 75% of the vote, after imprisoning most of his competitors.
For these municipal elections, the 3.7 million voters will have to renew the 153 municipal councils. The opposition has not had a free hand in the country to campaign. Of the 153 municipalities, 141 are already led by the president’s party. In July, Daniel Ortega dismissed five municipal councils which were not his. He then gave them to his own party.
A coalition, called Nicaragua Unida Triunfaformed around the presidential party.
For civil society groups like Urnas Abiertas, the ballot is loaded. They denounce violence against opposition candidates during the electoral campaign, the participation of fake opposition candidates and the organization of the ballot on Sunday.
#NicaraguaObserva ? | Abstencionismo during the municipal elections in Nicaragua was 82.67%. With a 95% level of confidence and a margin of error of 5% the participation of this year increased to 17.33%. pic.twitter.com/SHAShKZPDP
—Urnas Abiertas (@UrnasAbiertas) November 7, 2022
In Nicaragua, the regime, held by the Ortega couple, made silence any critical voice since 2018: opponents are in prison or in exile, several hundred NGOs have been closed, and the media censored.
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