Nicaraguan President Ortega wins third term amid claims of election fraud

[News_Editor]

Nicaraguan President Ortega wins third term amid claims of election fraud

2011-11-08 09:59:30 GMT+7 (ICT)

MANAGUA, NICARAGUA (BNO NEWS) -- Nicaraguan election officials on Monday afternoon declared incumbent president Daniel Ortega as the winner of Sunday's general election amid widespread claims of fraud.

With more than 86 percent of the 2.2 million votes counted, Nicaragua's Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) said the 65-year-old Ortega, who is the leader of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), received 62.65 percent of the vote.

Ortega was followed by Independent Liberal Party (PLI) candidate Fabio Gadea Mantilla, who received 30.96 percent of the vote, according to CSE President Roberto Rivas, who said the turnout was between 75 and 80 percent. The Constitutionalist Liberal Party (PLC) received about six percent of the votes.

However, Gadea Mantilla refused to concede defeat amid increasing allegations of widespread election fraud, and the official CSE website showed earlier results which totaled up to 100.01 percent. He said the results as presented by the CSE do not reflect the people's will but rather the power of the government.

"Unfortunately, the Nicaraguan people have not had a credible opportunity for their democratic right," Gadea Mantilla stated. "As the electoral process developed, the number of irregularities was increasing until it culminated in elections, which has been a carefully planned exercise by the 'Ortegaism' in order to alter the people's will, which produces a justified suspicion that we have witnessed a staged fraud."

He added: "At this moment, we cannot accept the results as presented by the Supreme Electoral Council because they do not reflect the people's will, but rather the will of the electoral council."

A group of protesters gathered outside the CSE's central headquarters in Managua, claiming that the election results are false and calling for a nationwide movement against the results. A large police front stood guard around the CSE's offices but no incidents were reported.

U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs, condemned the elections. "Sunday's so-called election in Nicaragua was a complete sham," she said. "Daniel Ortega made sure of it."

Ros-Lehtinen said Ortega was, according to the Nicaraguan constitution, not eligible to run for a third term as president. "But he forced his way onto the ballot through a corrupt scheme that trampled over Nicaraguan constitutional mandates," she said, referring to a 2009 Supreme Court decision which declared the country's two-term limit invalid.

"And once he forced his way onto the ballot, Ortega pulled out more tricks to make sure that he would win," Ros-Lehtinen added. "He denied countless Nicaraguans the right to vote in order to stack the deck in his favor. He has clearly learned from his dictatorial buddies in the region, like Chavez, who is an expert at trampling democracy."

The U.S. State Department also expressed concern regarding Nicaragua's presidential elections, but said it would wait with a formal comment until the election has been certified.

"We are concerned by press reporting that during the elections there were procedural irregularities and there was also intimidation of voters," said Victoria Nuland, the State Department's spokeswoman.

Nuland noted that the Nicaraguan government denied access to international election monitors. "Frankly, if the Nicaraguan Government had nothing to hide, it should have allowed a broad complement of international monitors," she said.

Ortega first assumed office in January 1985 until April 1990. He then ran for a second term in 2006, leading to his inauguration in January 2007.

In 1998, Ortega's adopted stepdaughter Zoilamerica Narvaez alleged that she had been systematically sexually abused by Ortega since 1979 when she was 11 years old. Despite releasing a 48-page report to describe her allegations, Ortega had immunity from prosecution as a member of parliament and the five-year statute of limitations for sexual abuse and rape charges was judged to have been exceeded. Both Ortega and his wife have denied Narvaez' allegations.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-11-08