Two hours after the start of the voting, the government and the opposition carry out a first evaluation of the different electoral day. The opposition states that few people are going to vote while the government maintains that there is “incredible, massive turnout.”
The president of Nicaragua and favorite to win in the elections, Daniel Ortega, attended this Sunday at the Central University, in the capital, Managua, to cast his vote in the presidential elections, in which he is seeking a fourth consecutive term. The president accused the opposition of sowing terror in the country, referring to the massive protests of 2018, harshly repressed by his government. “We cannot forget, after so many years of peace, those who sowed terror,” he said.
“We all lived it and managed to put an end to terrorism and restore peace. And stabilize and advance the well-being and progress of Nicaraguan families,” he continued. “Humanity does not want wars, it does not want blood, it wants peace, progress, well-being,” he added.
These elections have been questioned by opposition parties and part of the international community. The Organization of American States (OAS) and the European Union questioned whether several presidential candidates are imprisoned. In addition, social organizations and opponents They called not to vote in the elections this Sunday.
Vote
With long lines of people waiting to vote for at least an hour before the opening of the circuits, the presidential election began in Nicaragua
At seven in the morning (local time) the voting centers were opened so that the four and a half million Nicaraguans qualified to vote could attend.
At the beginning of the vote, local television showed that there were lines of people waiting to enter.
“It’s an incredible, massive turnout,” assessed Gustavo Porras, leader of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) and president of the National Assembly, the Nicaraguan parliament.
Porras, like other candidates for legislators for the ruling party, they highlighted the “peace” and “tranquility” with which the elections are held. “The Nicaraguan people are saying this vote is for the defense of sovereignty, self-determination without foreign interference. We are building our own way“, he claimed.
But the vision of the opposition to the government is different. The Blue and White National Unit (UNAB), which groups together social and political organizations in Nicaragua, released images from various areas of the country that show empty streets. Media critical of the government also showed images of little public in some circuits.
The presidential candidate for the Nicaraguan Christian Way party, Guillermo Osorno, voted early this Sunday and warned that his prosecutors were not allowed to enter the voting centers. “We alert the electoral authorities so that they put order and that the result is efficient,” added Osorno.
Meanwhile, the candidate for president of Nicaragua for the Alliance for the Republic (Apre), Gerson Gutiérrez, said that those who call to stay at home and not vote do “harm” to the country.
Electoral roll
On Sunday’s election day there are 4,478,334 citizens authorized to elect the president for the period 2022-2027, as well as 90 deputies of the National Assembly and 20 deputies of the Central American Parliament.
The electoral roll of qualified persons is made up of citizens over 16 years of age who have participated in at least one of the last three elections. According to information from the Superior Electoral Council, there will be 3,106 voting centers throughout the country where 13,459 Vote Receiving Boards will be installed, for an average of 332.7 voters for each one.
The six candidates
There are six presidential candidates: Daniel Ortega by the Sandinista National Liberation Front; Walter Espinoza by the Constitutionalist Liberal Party; Mauricio Orue Vazquez by the Independent Liberal Party; Marcelo de Jesus Montiel Fernandez by the Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance; Gerson Gutierrez Gasparin by the Alliance for the Republic and Guillermo Osorno along the Nicaraguan Christian Way.
There are three parties unable to participate in these elections and 7 imprisoned presidential candidates: Cristiana Chamorro, daughter of the former president and most popular opponent, as well as Félix Maradiaga, Arturo Cruz, Medardo Mairena, Miguel Mora, Noel Vidaurre and Juan Sebastián Chamorro, all imprisoned between June and July of this year.
The “Law for the Defense of the Rights of the People to Independence, Sovereignty, and Self-determination for Peace”, approved in December 2020, was applied to all of them.
Protests abroad
San José de Costa Rica, El Salvador, Madrid and Washington were the scene this Sunday of some of the mobilizations called by the Nicaraguan diaspora to express their opposition to the elections in which Daniel Ortega seeks a new mandate, questioned by the disqualification of the main opposition alliance and the detention of seven presidential candidates.
Meanwhile, the Nicaraguan Foreign Minister, Denis Moncada, referred this Sunday to the possibility that the international community does not recognize the result of the elections, a position promoted, among others, by the United States, the European Union and the Organization of American States. .
“We are not going to intimidate ourselves with their threats, with their unilateral measures, with their sanctions, with their threats of ignoring the elections,” Moncada said after casting his vote.
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