Under the watchful eye of some 30,000 troops, polling stations will open in Nicaragua today at 7 a.m. local time for a surprise vote: President Daniel Ortega has secured a fourth consecutive term after all serious his opponents have been taken into custody.
“A farce”, “a travesty”: Washington and the European Union do not have enough harsh words to condemn this election, in which they deny any legitimacy.
International media reporters saw that they were denied access to the territory and the government denied the presence of independent observers.
The country’s last remaining opposition newspaper, La Prensa, was attacked by police in mid-August and its director was jailed.
One week before the vote, Meta, Facebook’s parent company, announced that it had scrapped around a thousand Facebook and Instagram accounts operated by a Nicaraguan government “factory troll” to manipulate public opinion.
Beheaded, with its leaders in custody or in exile, the opposition is preparing for demonstrations in Costa Rica, Miami or Madrid and agreed to a single urging to voters: “On Sunday, stay home.”
Nicaraguan people are not fooled: the five candidates who have registered to face the head of state are accomplices who have compromised with the government.
Therefore, only the abstention rate will be able to give an idea of the real support of Nicaraguan people for the “ballot” formed by Daniel Ortega and his wife Rosario Mourinho, vice president of the country since 2017.
They are often compared to Frank and Claire Underwood, the ruthless House of Cards duo or nicknamed “Lord and Lady Macbeth”: 76-year-old Daniel Ortega and his 70-year-old wife form a couple ready for anything. absolute power exercised with an iron fist.
According to a Cid-Gallup poll, if they had the choice, 65% of the 4.4 million registered voters would have voted for an opposition candidate, compared to 19% who would have voted for the outgoing president.
In contrast, for the government-affiliated M&R polling institute, Daniel Ortega and the 90 parliamentary candidates ousted by the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) garnered 70% of the vote.
“There is no one to vote for. It is in the pocket of Daniel (Ortega),” a 46-year-old woman told AFP. He asks not to be named: “We can not talk, otherwise they put you in jail”.
Hunting of the opposition
Three years after the crackdown, which claimed the lives of more than 300 protesters demanding the resignation of Daniel Ortega in the spring of 2018, and six months before the election, the opposition hunt is well under way: 39 politicians, businessmen, villagers , students and journalists have been arrested since June. Among them, the seven potential candidates who could pose a threat to the outgoing president.
Opposition leader Cristiana Chamorro, 67, the daughter of former President Violeta Chamorro (1990-1997), was the first to be arrested on June 2 and placed under house arrest.
Opposition groups called for a crackdown on national unity, aiding and abetting international sanctions against Nicaragua, “treason” or “money laundering” under a law passed by parliament in late 2020. , as well as the judiciary and the electoral court.
Fear prevails in this small country of Central America with 6.5 million inhabitants, which is the poorest in the region and since the riots of 2018 is faced with inflation, unemployment and the coronavirus pandemic, the extent of which power denies.
Following the spring 2018 protests, more than 100,000 Nicaraguan people have taken the road to exile, while 150 oppositionists, whom Daniel Ortega has described as “criminals” and ousted by Washington as “coup plotters”, are still behind bars.
The hero of the revolution, the former rebel Daniel Ortega is today accused by his opponents of acting like the dictator Anastasio Somosa, to whose overthrow he had contributed in 1979.
For exiled Nicaraguan analyst Elvira Cuadra, the country’s isolation will hit international investment and funding, with social repercussions and increased immigration.
Moreover, in addition to the new sanctions adopted by the US and the EU, relations are strained with historical allies such as Mexico and Argentina. Cuba, Venezuela and Russia remain the mainstays of the Ortega and Mourinho governments.
Source: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ
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Source From: Capital
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