The recent report by Urnas Abiertas denounces that the electoral campaign of the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) and its collaborators only served to “justify the millionaire reimbursement” demanded by the parties at the end of their participation in a process that the organization classifies as lacking. of “democratic conditions and guarantees”.
For this year, the budget earmarked for municipal electoral campaigns was 450 million córdobas. “This electoral campaign began marked by confusion after the effects of Hurricane Julia, since some collaborationist parties reported that they were notified that the campaign It would be reduced to 13 days, starting on October 20, due to the effects of the hurricane, however, the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) never officially reported this provision, “highlights the observatory.
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“During the entire campaign period there was a notorious silence, the atmosphere in the municipalities does not point to the approach of a civic party as the elections should be, the streets lack notorious political advertising except for a few posters, rallies or caravans in the streets are non-existent and the few political acts registered during the last two weekends were not massive, participation was limited to activities that did not exceed a few dozen people, “says Urnas Abiertas.
The organization compared this electoral period with the one carried out in 2017, highlighting that currently a “drastic decrease in the political participation of citizens” can be observed, at that time mobilizations and crowded political acts were carried out. “For these elections, on the other hand, the collaborationist parties receive comments and sarcastic and offensive reactions in their social network posts, according to the monitoring carried out by Urnas Abiertas on digital platforms,” he says.
On the morning of this October 31, the regime reported that the electoral suitcases are already being distributed in the 153 of the country with the support of the Nicaraguan Police and Army, which according to the general director of the sanctioned Police, Francisco Díaz Madriz, He indicated that they are executing the “Police Protection Plan for the Sovereign Municipal Elections 2022” and will support the CSE with “the custody of the CVs, JRVs, Computing and Transmission Centers, so that the municipal elections take place in peace and tranquility.”
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Open Ballot Boxes highlights that throughout this process the groups have also been accompanied by official agents to carry out campaigns, which makes clear the relationship that exists between these parties and the regime, since none of their events was besieged by despite the widespread violence and de facto police state maintained by the regime in the country.
Prior to these elections, the independent observatory Urnas Abiertas recorded a total of 1,158 citizen complaints for usurpation of identity, illegitimate appropriation of name and violation of the Personal Data Protection Law in the lists of candidacies for mayors, deputy mayors and councilors for municipal voting.
For these votes, the CSE eliminated 5,528 Vote Receiving Boards (JRV) with a swipe for the municipal elections on November 6. For these elections, it will only enable 7,931 JRVs, while in the national voting last year it had 13,459.
