In Nicaragua, President Ortega uses the judicial weapon to get rid of his last electoral opponents

President Daniel Ortega has dealt a fatal blow to democracy in Nicaragua. The Supreme Electoral Council (CSE), controlled by the regime, annulled, on Friday August 6, the legal status of the only opposition party, Citizens for Freedom (CxL, right), vying for the presidential and legislative elections November 7. The shattering decision leaves the field open to the 75-year-old former Sandinista guerrilla, who aspires to a fourth consecutive term, causing an international outcry.

“Democracy cannot be erased”, took offense, Friday, on his Twitter account, Oscar Sobalvarro, who had just been appointed presidential candidate of the CxL. His party was at the head of an electoral platform formed with part of the insurrectionary movements demanding the end of the regime. “Authoritarian” Mr. Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo, his vice-president.

Rather tortuous, the decision of the CSE is based on a complaint filed by the Liberal Constitutionalist Party (PLC, conservative), accused by the opposition of colluding with the regime. The PLC’s appeal against the CxL denounces in particular the ” Double nationality [américaine et nicaraguayenne] of its president, Carmella Rogers Amburn [surnommée Kitty Monterrey] in a notorious violation of the electoral law ”, catchy “The nullity of all acts of the CxL party”. This resolution also specifies that Mme Rogers Amburn loses Nicaraguan nationality, accusing him of having obtained it in such a way “Fraudulent”.

Article reserved for our subscribers Read also In Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega’s electoral trap closes on the opposition

An election without a real opponent

The eviction of the CxL from the polls, which effectively excludes the presidential candidacy of Mr. Sobalvarro, 60, announces an election without real adversary for Mr. Ortega and his party, the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), in power to 1979 to 1990 and from 2007 to today. The magistrates of the CSE also invoke an infringement by the CxL to “The law for the defense of peoples’ rights”. The latter was voted at the end of 2020 by the National Assembly, where the FSLN has a majority. The text provides for prison sentences against “Traitors to the fatherland”, who “Threaten sovereignty” country, banning them from running for office.

This law has also been brandished against most of the 31 opponents imprisoned or placed under house arrest since June, including seven presidential candidates. Not to mention the former beauty queen Berenice Quezada, 27, running mate of Mr. Sobalvarro, dismissed from her candidacy against Mr.me Murillo who is running for a second term as vice-president alongside her husband. However, the public prosecutor announced on Tuesday August 3 that Mr.me Quezada will remain at large.

You have 57.1% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.