The first preliminary report of the Nicaraguan Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) has given as winner the pro-government Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) in the 112 municipalities in which the counting of Sunday’s municipal elections has been concluded. The elections have been marked by the absence of opposition parties, vetoed by the courts.
The results of the remaining 41 municipalities are yet to be known, but the opposition has insisted that this is an electoral «farce» due to the judicial veto to the participation of opposition parties.
The president of the CSE, Brenda Rocha, appeared to report the first official results at 5:48 a.m. on Monday, almost twelve hours after the closing of the polls, an «unprecedented» delay according to opposition media.
Rocha emphasized that the process has culminated with «success» and with «a civic and sovereign exercise, where the will of the citizens was expressed in the ballot boxes in a transparent, democratic and peaceful manner».
The authorities point to a good participation, although they do not give concrete data, while the independent organization Urnas Abiertas assures an abstention rate of 82.67 percent and a participation of 17.33 percent.
«This year an unprecedented strategy of coercion of the vote was documented, people were controlled and watched one by one, to guarantee that they attended the polls together with their relatives, on the other hand, there was also information of a great number of people who did not attend to vote for fear of reprisals that could mean the evidence that they did not attend to vote», has pointed out a spokeswoman of Urnas Abiertas, Ligia Gómez, in declarations to the portal 100% Noticias.
