Members of the Board of Directors of the Nicaraguan Parliament during the approval of the electoral reforms, on Tuesday, in Managua.Jorge Torres / EFE
The Nicaraguan National Assembly, controlled by Daniel Ortega, has approved electoral reforms tailored to the president, who has become an autocrat who controls all power in that Central American country. The reforms are a new stumbling block in the aspirations of a divided opposition that sought to achieve minimal guarantees in the presidential elections scheduled for November, but is now practically out of the contention. The Sandinista also ordered Parliament to appoint loyal judges to the Electoral Tribunal, which Ortega clears all the way to enlist in power. After the approval of the
package
electoral process, the United States, through the Acting Undersecretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs of the State Department, Julie Chung, has affirmed that the Nicaraguan president opens the doors for "flawed elections."
For Ortega, who no longer tries to keep up appearances in front of the international community, the elections are a mere formality, a cumbersome process that at least gives him legitimacy among his bases and strong institutions such as the Army, which remains loyal to the president. Electoral reforms were one of the demands of the United States, the Organization of American States (OAS), and the European Union. Both Washington and Brussels have imposed sanctions on regime officials for human rights violations, including Ortega's vice president and wife Rosario Murillo, some of his children and closest operators.
The reforms approved by the Assembly allow the FSLN - Ortega's party - to maintain control of the entire electoral structure, give the police the power to authorize or not the political rallies of opponents, deny financing to candidates who aspire to participate in the process and
de facto
inhibits
to those people who have participated in the 2018 protests, which the regime has classified as an attempted coup.
The protests began as a repudiation of a social security reform that Ortega intended to impose without consensus, but after the regime's repression they became a national movement of repudiation that demanded the end of the president's term.
The repression left 328 dead, hundreds of political prisoners and 88,000 exiles, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
More information
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After learning about the reform proposals in mid-April, Spanish MEP José Ramón Bauzá classified them in an interview with EL PAÍS as “the last attack perpetrated by Ortega on democracy” in Nicaragua. “He is absolutely determined to consummate the electoral fraud that will take place in the November elections. All the indications that have been given to him by the OAS, by the European Union itself, by the different institutions and organizations worldwide, he has skipped the bullfight. Therefore, I am absolutely concerned about the lack of democracy that we are going to find in a few months in the next Nicaraguan elections, ”said the legislator.
The United States has also shown its concern over the reforms and, through Undersecretary Chung, the State Department has said that Ortega is heading for "flawed elections" in November.
“The new Electoral Law disappoints the Nicaraguan people and does not convince the international community.
The CSE is highly biased, ”said the official.
The Administration of President Joe Biden has shown its concern about the situation in Nicaragua.
Washington has demanded a "change of course" from the Ortega regime, in the face of what it has described as the "intensification of repression."
"The Biden Administration is committed to supporting the Nicaraguan people and their demand for democracy," the State Department said in a statement published in early February.
In Managua, opponents are trying to take the blow. It is not that the
Ortega
reforms
They were taken by surprise, but they expected a modicum of openness from the regime due to international pressure and threats of new sanctions. So far, a solid opposition group has not been formed and there are a dozen candidates to become the opposition candidate. Among those people is Cristiana Chamorro, daughter of former President Violeta Chamorro, who aspires to repeat the feat of her mother, who in 1990 defeated Daniel Ortega in a supervigilated election. “With the election of the new CSE, the dictatorship shows once again its authoritarian vocation, it has neither the political will nor the decency to hold free and transparent elections. Only in UNIT will we defeat Ortega, ”Chamorro wrote on Twitter.
Bishop Silvio Báez, one of the most critical voices of Ortega and transferred to Rome by the Vatican due to threats from the regime, also wrote on the social network: “In Nicaragua the dictatorship closes all doors to a democratic solution. Do not be discouraged. It is time to put down political arrogance and sectarian positions. It is still time for the humble rapprochement between the distant and the sacrifice of each one for the good of all ”. Despite internal and international pressure, Ortega shows no intention of giving in. On the contrary, he radicalizes, isolates Nicaragua and paradoxically maintains his desire to impose another family dynasty like the Somozas, against which he fought when he was a guerrilla toddler.
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