Monday, November 8th, 2021
Competition is in custody
Ortega wins a sham election in Nicaragua
In the eyes of the US government, the presidential election in Nicaragua is a “farce”. In any case, your result is clear: Daniel Ortega will continue to lead the country. Opposition politicians with good prospects have no choice but to pursue the controversial election in captivity.
Nicaragua’s head of state Daniel Ortega was confirmed in office with a clear majority in the controversial presidential election, according to official information. According to the result of the counting of almost 50 percent of the votes, Ortega was 75 percent.
The ex-guerrilla commander, who had ruled for 14 years, had several leading opposition politicians locked up in the months leading up to the election, preventing them from running for the presidential election. Around two thirds of all respondents had recently told the polling institute Cid-Gallup that they would have voted for one of the imprisoned opposition candidates had they been allowed to vote. Instead of promising opponents, five largely unknown candidates faced Ortega.
Critics accuse the head of state of having developed an increasingly authoritarian and repressive style of government over the years. Constitutional regulations limiting the presidential term of office have been abolished. Mass protests against Ortega in 2018 were violently suppressed by the security forces, killing more than 300 people.
Ortega was already president in the 1980s, having previously contributed to the overthrow of dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979 as commander of the guerrilla FSLN. In 1990 Ortega was voted out of office. In 2007 he was elected to the highest office again.
The EU and the US imposed sanctions on Ortega and his government. The US government called the election a “farce”, the EU foreign affairs representative Josep Borrell called it a “fake” election.