TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2008
Nicaragua Network Hotline — Special Municipal Election Report
November 11, 2008Sandinistas sweep Sunday's municipal elections; international observers say no fraud; Liberals challenge results
The latest report of Nicaragua's Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) released late on Monday, stated that the Sandinista Party (FSLN) had won the elections of Sunday, Nov. 9, in 94 municipalities, including Managua, the nation's capital, and nine other departmental capitals. As is currently the case, Sandinista mayors will govern more than three quarters of the population.
CSE President Roberto Rivas said that Eduardo Montealegre, the Liberal Alliance candidate who lost to FSLN candidate Alexis Argüello and was challenging the results, should present his claims to the SEC under the rules established in the electoral law. Earlier in the day on Monday, with 69% of precincts reporting, the CSE had stated that Argüello won 51.3% of the vote in Managua with Montealegre pulling in 46.45%.
The CSE reported Sandinista victories in Ciudad Sandino, Tipitapa, Boaco, Jinotepe, Diriamba, Chinandega, Chichigalpa, El Viejo, Somotillo, Rivas, San Juan del Sur, Esteli, Condega, San Juan de Limay, Leon, Nagarote, Telica, Somoto, Palacagüina, Telpaneca, Yalagüina, Masatepe, Niquinohomo, Matagalpa, Ciudad Dario, San Ramon, Esquipulas, Muy Muy, Ocotal, Jalapa, Kukra Hill, Corn Island, and San Carlos among others.
Liberals won in Corinto, Juigalpa, Santo Tomas, La Trinidad, Jinotega, El Cua, San Rafael del Norte, Wilwili, Masaya, Matiguas, Rio Blanco, Ciudad Antigua, Bluefields, Bocana de Paiwas, El Rama, Muelle de los Bueyes, El Castillo and others. Only a few returns had come in from El Sauce.
Electoral officials from several Latin American countries invited by the CSE to observe the elections said that there had not been fraud in the counting of the votes. The observers represented the Committee of Latin American Electoral Experts (CEELA), the Quito Protocol, and the Tikal Protocol, composed of presidents of electoral tribunals from South America, Central America and the Caribbean. The observers said that “the logistics were well designed and well administered,” adding that “We did not find any areas where the secrecy of the vote of citizens was vulnerable and this is an extremely important principal in electoral processes, nor did we find any element of coercion of the voters.” The observers summarized by saying, “We have not found any incident, in the places where we observed, that could constitute fraud and we agree that if any political party has an allegation of fraud, it has the obligation to prove it before the appropriate authorities.” On Nov. 5, the CSE announced that no national observer group would be accredited for these elections and that the fairness of the elections would be guaranteed by electoral officials and poll watchers from the competing political parties. Several groups, including Ethics and Transparency and the Institute for Development and Democracy (IPADE) had applied to observe the elections.
Meanwhile, the opposition alleged fraud. El Nuevo Diario said that some polling places opened only after secret meetings; others closed when there were people still standing in line to vote. The newspaper alleged that some poll workers accepted damaged voter ID cards when they were sure that the person would vote for the Sandinistas and rejected those that they thought would vote for the opposition. The newspaper reported that some poll watchers in Managua and Leon were expelled because there were mistakes in the spelling of their names on their credential cards and that only poll watchers who did not speak out were tolerated. The daily said that some polling places were closed early, the opposition poll watchers expelled and the Sandinista electoral officials and poll watchers counted the votes by themselves. The newspaper quoted Ethics and Transparency which received US government funding in previous elections, which said that “the elections were the most irregular, not to say fraudulent, that we have had since the times of Somoza.” E & T did, in the end, send out observers without credentials who were not allowed to enter polling places when they attempted to do so.
There was violence on Monday as the results began coming out. According to La Prensa, Sandinistas and Liberals confronted each other with firearms, sticks, and rocks in Managua after a gathering at Montealegre's campaign headquarters where Montealegre had accused the electoral authorities of “intent to carry out fraud.” The first reports on Monday night (including one on BBC Radio) were of the death of two persons but later reports included no deaths and four injured. In Matagalpa at poll closing time a group of Liberal supporters attacked Sandinistas waiting for results at a voting center. As many as 200 people joined the fray until the police broke it up.
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