The president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, has defended this Monday, day of municipal elections in the country, a «vote for peace» in the face of criticism from the opposition, which warns of repression of dissidents.
Ortega voted with his partner and vice-president, Rosario Murillo, at around 13.00 hours at the polling station installed next to El Carmen Park in Managua, reports the Nicaraguan public television Channel 4.
Ortega has stressed the importance of the election process of municipal authorities. «There are still a few hours left, where we are sure that Nicaraguans, women and men, who know that this vote is a vote for peace, will continue to arrive at the voting centers,» he said.
«Beyond the party to which you are casting your vote, you are voting for Nicaragua, and by voting for Nicaragua, you are voting for peace», added the leader of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN).
The President also highlighted that the construction of highways has facilitated the transportation of electoral material to the most remote areas of the country to guarantee the citizens’ right to vote.
«Now, thanks to the number of new roads that have been built and that reach places where before we could not reach in a vehicle, we will surely have many more Nicaraguans with the possibility, not only to face the day to day in school, in health, at work, but also the possibility of defending peace with their vote», he argued.
However, opposition voices have denounced that these are «Cuban-style elections» since the elimination in 2021 by the Supreme Electoral Council of the three main opposition parties and the arrest last year of seven presidential candidates.
The former deputy Enrique Sáenz has indicated that «under these conditions it seems to me that these are Cuban style elections» «How are the elections Cuban style, the party designates the candidates and supposedly the people vote», he pointed out in declarations to 100% Noticias.
With this electoral process without participation of the opposition Ortega seeks to consolidate the establishment of a single party regime, copying the Cuban model. «The people have no alternatives and that is why the Cuban Communist Party, in quotation marks, ‘wins’ all the elections because they propose the candidates and also elect these candidates», he indicated.
«This process is the last step in the dictatorship to impose Cuban-style elections. Imposing a one-party regime, exactly in the image and likeness of the Cuban political model. Political prisoners in jail, state of siege and nomination of candidates proposed by the same party», he added.
Meanwhile, Nicaraguans exiled in Costa Rica demonstrated this Sunday in the streets of San José in rejection of the municipal elections held in Nicaragua, considering them an «electoral farce» without credibility. Nicaraguans chanted slogans against Ortega and the electoral process.
