With over 97.74% of ballots counted, Nicaragua’s Supreme Electoral Council has confirmed the re-election of President Daniel Ortega, in what many international actors have described as a “sham” election. Aside from the presidency, the election will also determine who will hold 90 of the 92 seats in the country’s parliament. The victory gives Ortega, 76, a fourth consecutive term in office, having been in power since 2007. He also previously led the country from 1985 to 1990.
Ortega faced off against five other candidates who have been described by some as “regime loyalists” and placeholders to offer some semblance of democracy. However, at least seven other would-be candidates were arrested in the run-up to the election, alongside dozens of other opposition figures. Furthermore, some opposition parties were arbitrarily disqualified from participating altogether. Political suppression was also exercised against civil society activists and independent media.
Furthermore, election observers from the European Union and the Organization of American States were barred from monitoring the vote. In their place, the government deployed what it described as 232 “electoral companions,” who mostly came from countries with leftists governments like Russia, who have repeatedly backed the current government.
Against this backdrop, several opposition groups actively encouraged citizens to abstain from voting as an act of protest.
United States (US) President Joe Biden released a statement denouncing Ortega for holding a “pantomime election that was neither free nor fair, and most certainly not democratic,” hitting out at the arrest of around 40 opposition figures since May. Describing Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, as “autocrats,” Biden said that the Nicaraguan president is “no different from the Somoza family that Ortega and the Sandinistas fought four decades ago.”
Biden’s sentiments were echoed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who said that Ortega and Murillo had “declared themselves the winners of national elections whose outcome has long been a foregone conclusion,” hitting out at the regime’s “repression and electoral manipulation.” To this end, Blinken said that the US will work with regional and global allies and continue to use sanctions and visa restrictions to push the Ortega government to submit to democracy.
Likewise, the European Union issued a declaration criticising what its 27 members see as an ‘illegitimate’ election due to the “systematic incarceration, harassment and intimidation of presidential pre-candidates, opposition leaders, student and rural leaders, journalists, human rights defenders, and business representatives.” Taking this into account, the bloc concluded: “The elections of 7 November complete the conversion of Nicaragua into an autocratic regime.”
Similarly, the United Kingdom said that the election was “not a plausible expression of democracy” and was an election “in name only,” saying that the Ortega family is taking the country “further down the tragic path of authoritarianism.”
As expected, rights groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have also spoken out against Ortega and the legitimacy of the election.
However, Ortega has found support in Tehran, with Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Said Jatibzade congratulating Nicaragua for its “successful practice of democracy and holding the general elections in peace and tranquillity.”
Cuba, Venezuela, and Russia have also come out with statements of support. Russian Foreign Ministry Sergey Lavrov said the US’ calls for others to reject the results of the election are “unacceptable.”
Moreover, Ortega himself has hit back at his critics, saying that the election represents a victory over “terrorism” and that his re-election has been supported by the “immense majority of Nicaraguans.” He described opponents who are supported by foreign actors as “demons who don’t want peace for our people and instead opt for slander and disqualifications [..] so that Nicaragua is embroiled in violence.”
He also questioned what he sees as hypocrisy on the part of the US, saying that the Capitol rioters from January 6 are being tried as domestic terrorists, positing that this is the same reason why he felt the need to detain so many opposition candidates and figures.
Ortega’s power is derived from the Sandinista revolution in 1979, when he and his allies overthrew dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle. Since then, however, his appeal has waned and he has leveraged his power over the courts and removed term limits in 2016 to cement his iron grip on the government through more nefarious means.
Last December, the parliament passed a law that effectively allowed the president to arbitrarily ban opposition candidates from running in the election. The law permits Ortega to unilaterally designate citizens as “terrorists”, “coup-mongers”, or “traitors to the homeland.”
In 2018, following a wave of protests by citizens and opposition politicians against his regime, Ortega used the terms in the new law. In fact, at least 325 people were killed during the demonstrations that began following cuts to social security benefits and eventually morphed into demands for Ortega to resign.
His re-election this week has been met with a mixture of resignation and anger from the public. However, given the international outcry, it is possible that we could see a new wave of intense protests in Nicaragua.