MONDAY, NOVEMBER 07, 2011
Nicaraguan Elections Bulletin No. 2 (November 7, 2011)
This morning, the Supreme Electoral Council released its second preliminary report on results from yesterday's presidential elections. Roberto Rivas, President of the Council, said that Sandinista candidate President Daniel Ortega maintained his lead with more than 2,000 precincts reporting (of a total of more than 11,000). The United Nicaragua Triumphs Alliance headed by the Sandinista Party (FSLN) had 63.95% percent of the vote, followed by the Independent Liberal Party (PLI) Alliance candidate Fabio Gadea with 29.9%, and the Constitutional Liberal Party candidate former President Arnoldo Aleman with 6.27%. Rivas said that out of the first 2,000 polling places reporting results, only four had been challenged. He said that the CSE would release another report at noon Nicaragua time with 90%.The opposition parties made accusations of fraud as did non-governmental organizations such as Ethics and Transparency (E&T) and the Institute for Development and Democracy (IPADE), which in past elections have fielded national election observers. [Both these organizations have received funding from the United States government as part of US “democracy promotion” programs.] The groups were not accredited for this election cycle because the CSE accused them of taking political partisan positions. Among them were ballot boxes already sealed when poll watchers arrived and intimidation of poll watchers. IPADE reported that there were poll watchers from all five participating parties in only one quarter of the precincts; however there were at least two poll watchers in 98% of precincts.
The National Council of Universities (CNU), which was accredited as an observer group, reported that its quick count gave 64.9% to the Sandinista Party, 29.35% to the PLI Alliance, and 5.02% to the PLC. The CNU fielded a reported 20,000 students, faculty and administrators to all parts of the country.
The Organization of American States (OAS) observer/accompanier mission announced that it would release a statement with its “preliminary conclusions” sometime on Nov. 7. It lamented the burning of six voting places in the Department of Matagalpa. After the OAS reported its difficulties in gaining entrance to 20% of precincts, OAS officials said that the situation was remedied and they proceeded normally with their observation.
If the current tendency continues, the Sandinista Party will obtain 59 seats in the National Assembly, the PLI Alliance 25, and the PLC seven. In this case, the Sandinistas (including the small parties that form part of the Sandinista alliance) will have sufficient numbers to approve pending high level appointments and even propose amendments to the constitution without having to forge agreements with other parties and alliances.
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