The entire process of the regional elections in the Caribbean of Nicaragua was plagued by irregularities and inconsistencies, according to the final report of the organization Urnas Abiertas, which distributed some 200 citizen observers in 153 Voting Centers, in the 15 municipalities of the two Regions. Autonomous.
In total, 949 anomalies identified by the citizen networks of Open Ballot Boxes were reported during the elections on the Caribbean Coast, all of them related to signs of electoral fraud, coercion of voting, among others.
Related news: Total control on the Caribbean Coast: FSLN is awarded 100% of the positions in the Regional Councils
According to Open Ballot Boxes, in these votes the governing party prevented universal and equitable voting. Furthermore, this situation resulted in 86.72% abstention in the elections.
The organization points out that “all representative electoral options for the Afro-descendant and indigenous population in the Autonomous Regions were cancelled. “It formed a program that prevented a truly competitive electoral campaign, it reduced all the times for registration and validation of the electoral roll.”
Leaders of opposition political parties were also imprisoned and people who sympathized with these parties or supported these leaders were even threatened.
“The regional elections finished sedimenting repressive policies, laws and practices, put into operation during the electoral process, which deepened the institutional policy of the regime to control the region’s natural resources for mining, forestry or agricultural exploitation,” the document highlights. .
Open Polls concluded that the citizens of the Caribbean Coast did not vote in an environment of free competition and did not exercise their right to elect and be elected, but rather participated in elections manipulated by the FSLN. “The elections in the Caribbean reinforced political practices applied by the FSLN in previous electoral processes,” he points out.
According to the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE), dominated by Ortega, the ruling party won 88.95% of the votes and 100% of all the positions disputed on March 3, 2024.
