General Elections of 2016
Nicaraguan leader Daniel Ortega's party strengthened its majority in the country's Congress after his landslide re-election. Ortega, a former guerilla and the head of the Marxist Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) party, won his third consecutive term in the election on 06 November 2016, as voters cheered years of solid economic growth and overlooked criticism he is installing a family dynasty. Ortega's Sandinistas won 71 of the 92 seats in Congress, up from the 63 seats they won in the 2011 election. The party of Ortega's main opponent, the center-right Liberal Constitutionalist Party's (PLC) Maximino Rodriguez, will have 13 seats, with one more guaranteed by the constitution for Rodriguez.
Nicaragua's incumbent President Daniel Ortega of the Sandinista National Liberation Front, or FSLN, locked in a win for a third consecutive term in the 06 November 2016 election with an irreversible lead of 72 percent with two-thirds of votes counted, election authorities announced the next morning. Ortega's overwhelming support of 72.1 percent of the vote was followed in distant second by Maximino Rodriguez, the candidate of the center-right Liberal Constitutionalist Party and a former right-wing paramilitary fighter, at 14.2 percent with 66.3 percent of the votes counted, according to the Supreme Electoral Council. Ortega, alongside his running mate and partner Rosario Murillo, will serve a term until 2021.
The electorate also decided on 92 members of the National Assembly and 20 representatives to the Central American Parliament, Parlacen. The FSLN swept the National Assembly with 66.4 percent, while the Liberal Constitutionalist Party took 14.7 percent.
Nicaraguans began to head to the polls at 7:00 a.m. local time Sunday 06 November 2016 to cast their ballots in the presidential and legislative election, where citizens will choose a president, vice-president and members of the National Assembly to govern the Central American country for the next four years. More than 4 million Nicaraguans cast their vote for one of six aspiring presidential candidates from various political groups and affiliations, among them current President Daniel Ortega, who along with his partner and running mate, Rosario Murillo, is considered the favorite by a wide margin for the Sandinistas. Voters will also elect 90 legislators to the Central American nation's National Assembly. Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's popularity has remained high after nearly a decade in power thanks to prudent management of the economy and social programs established with the support of Nicaraguan allies Venezuela and Cuba.
In his speech during the Sandinista Congress ratifying his candidacy for the November 2016 Presidential election, Comandante Daniel Ortega announced that no international observers would be invited to the November national elections. “No observers, not the European Union, nor the OAS, are expected to present themselves… They know that in Nicaragua they face a People of antiimperialist vocation,” said Ortega. Instead the electoral process will be accompanied by electoral experts from all over Latin America and the Caribbean to offer their guidance and expertise to Nicaragua's electoral authority, the Supreme Electoral Council. This decision was a reaction to the continent wide campaign to destabilize left wing governments.
The March 2014 regional elections in the autonomous Caribbean Coast were marred by allegations of institutional fraud and intimidation. Observers alleged military and police officials, as well as citizens from other regions in the country, entered the region with the express purpose of casting extra votes for one particular party. Eyewitness citizen videos, showing residents with Managua identification cards voting on the Caribbean Coast, circulated online via social media. Opposition party members also reported that throughout the Caribbean Coast government vehicles and other public resources were used to transport supporters of the ruling party to voting centers. The indigenous party YATAMA claimed the ruling party used its control over the CSE to commit fraud. Among the irregularities observed on election day were electoral authorities preventing citizens from voting and violating the right to a secret vote, in addition to complaints that some individuals were allowed to vote more than once.
In 2015 four local Sandinista leaders were murdered for political reasons. In July 2014 right wing activists ambushed a caravan of Sandinista supporters returning from the annual celebration of the Revolution, killing five people and wounding 24. The general association of these attacks with the country's right wing helped contribute to the current irrelevance of the political opposition in Nicaragua.
On 08 June 2016, the Nicaraguan Supreme Court stripped the opposition Independent Liberal Party (PLI) from its long recognized leader, placing the PLI under the control of a government-allied leader. The Supreme Court took similar action on June 17 when it invalidated the leadership of the Citizen Action Party (PAC), the only remaining opposition party with the legal standing to present a presidential candidate. Most recently, on July 29, the Supreme Electoral Council removed 28 PLI national assembly members (16 seated and 12 alternates) from their popularly-elected positions, citing the members’ failure to recognize the new party leadership.
But the opposition, like in Venezuela, is weak, according to Christine Wade, associate professor of political science and international studies at Washington College. She told Nina Lakhani, writing 26 June 2016 in The Guardian, “The recent events look bad in an election season, but the opposition are poorly organised, bereft of ideas and spend too much time fighting amongst themselves. Regardless of the supreme court decision, there’s no one in opposition capable of beating Ortega. He’s too popular – it was always going to be one-horse race.”
John Kirby, US Assistant Secretary of State and Department Spokesperson, said August 1, 2016 "The United States is gravely concerned by the actions of the Nicaraguan government and Supreme Court to close the democratic space in advance of November 3 presidential and legislative elections. We strongly urge the Nicaraguan government to create an environment for free and fair elections that will allow the Nicaraguan people to determine the future of their country."
Daniel Ortega announced 03 August 2016 that his wife Rosario Murillo would be his running mate in the November 2016 presidential election. "We don't doubt that (the vice presidential candidate) had to be a woman, and who better than the partner who has already been tested with work and proved to be very efficient and disciplined?" said Ortega. The 80-year-old president, a former guerrilla fighter, was seeking reelection for a third term. He was running against five other contenders. His wife would be vying for vice-presidency after having served as Ortega’s spokeswoman. She was already believed to wield significant power in this Central American nation.
Comandante Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, who coordinates government policy at an operational level enjoy levels of approval well over 70 percent. In electoral terms, the opinion polls forecast a solid Sandinista victory of over 60 percent in the elections due in November 2016 in a context where over 80 percent of voters said they are satisfied with Nicaragua's democracy.
Together since the 1970s and officially married in 2006, Murillo is President Ortega's closest confidant. She served as coordinator of the Council for Communication and Citizenry and functioned as Ortega's campaign manager during his successful bid for the presidency in the 2006 elections. Murillo is the mother of Zoilamerica, who, in 1998, publicly accused stepfather Ortega of having abused her for more than a decade. Murillo consistently defended her husband in the case. Some believe that she has used her knowledge of the case to gain and maintain power and influence over Ortega. Murillo is a great believer in spiritualism, a hypochondriac, and, putting it mildly, sports an eclectic wardrobe.
Born on June 22, 1951, Murillo was educated in the UK and France and is fluent in both English and French. Prior to becoming involved in the Sandinista movement, she was a language professor and worked for ten years as the assistant to the late Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, Director of La Prensa newspaper. In 1969 she joined the Sandinista underground movement and during the 1980s she was a member of the Nicaraguan National Assembly and Minister of the Nicaraguan Institute of Culture. She is also a published poet (of largely erotica), writer and journalist.
The first lady has been criticized for her constant abuse of drugs and alcohol, as well as for promoting a culture of antisocial values derived from the “New Age” sect she follows. In addition, she has been accused of illicit enrichment, given that over the last 10 years, Murillo and her husband Daniel Ortega have managed to amass a fortune at the expense of tax evasion and bribes from state enterprises’ providers, among others.
A poll by the centrist M&R Consultants released 08August 2016 put total committed voter support for the five opposition parties contesting this year's election at just over 10 percent. Respected, politically centrist Nicaraguan journalist Adolfo Pastran reports that leading opposition figures explicitly say their objective is “to totally discredit the electoral process and reject the election results.
With general elections looming, Ortega widened his lead in voter preference to 61 points over his closest rival, a survey released on 12 September 2016 confirmed. Ortega, the former guerrilla and historic leader of Sandinista National Liberation Front, or FSLN, totaled 65.7 percent of the vote in a poll by M & R Consultores. The firm conducted the survey between August 26 and September 3 with an error margin of 2.24 percent. The right-wing opposition and former contra rebel Maximino Rodriguez scored a distant second with 4.4 percent and coming in third was lawyer Pedro Reyes of the Independent Liberal Party, with 2.2 percent, according to the survey. A total of 25.6 percent declined to answer.
People outside Nicaragua unfamiliar with the country's politics over the last five years are generally at a loss to explain why Nicaragua's right wing political opposition is doing so badly, or, conversely, why President Daniel Ortega and his ministerial team have done so well. . In large part the reasons are reflected in the population's feelings about the country's economic development. The government's social and economic policies enjoy massive support.
Media in Nicaragua reported on 21 October 2016 that President Daniel Ortega and his wife and running mate Rosario Murillo were leading the polls with about three out of four Nicaraguan voters supporting them as the Nov. 6 election neared. The result was released by the pollster M&R Consultores, which also said that 64.8 percent of respondents approve of the Sandinista government, highlighting the social programs, infrastructure, free health care and education, stability and economic growth, among other achievements.
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