The Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) – controlled by operators of the Ortega regime – plans to call the municipal elections of November 6, 2022 in the second week of May, following its rule of calling these processes six months before their completion, or less.
The elections would be a “photocopy” of the 2021 general voting process, which was held without political competition and under the shadow of repression and the police state imposed by the Ortega regime.
According to official data, the governing party controls 137 of 153 municipalities, equivalent 90% of the country’s mayors. At the local level, as a mirror of the current leadership, it has maintained a local re-election policy that has made it possible for at least 41 mayors have remained in power since 2007.
The Sandinista Front has not yet made any official moves in relation to these elections, but the recent internal conflicts within the party worry its leadership.
This motivated the leadership of the ruling party to “lower” the order of “unity” in Ortega around the Electoral Victory Units (UVE) in the face of municipal votes, after unresolved tensions between historical militants and the band of professionals loyal to Vice President Rosario Murillo.
In a message addressed to the militants, which circulates among the members of the aforementioned party structures, it is explained that the main objective to fulfill its electoral goals is for the Sandinista base to understand that they must be “everyone with everyone in the VVE, out! Nothing of her!”
The communication is the most recent, after the order of last March 28 on the deactivation of the so-called “historical Sandinism”, which generated criticism of Murillo such as that of Marlon Gerardo Sáenz, known as “Chino Enoch”, who identifies himself as historical in social networks and blames the vice president for causing the partisan division and for keeping Ortega incommunicado.
The UVE had an outstanding participation in 2021, during the day that allowed the illegitimate re-election of Ortega, when the FSLN campaigned using of state resources.
Its members were in charge of surveillance of opponents in the neighborhoods and also the micro-local campaign that promotes the cult of personality of the presidential couple, through activities that try to sell an alleged closeness with the population, in a dictatorial context marked by the lack of freedoms and the repressive escalation that imprisoned 52 people since the end of May 2022.
“There is no time to lose. From now on, the most committed militants of the UVE visit and talk with the other militants to make sure that the FSLN counts on them for the struggles and victories to come,” the communication adds.
In the vision that they transmit to their bases, they explain, “everyone works to overcome poverty and change Nicaragua with Daniel and Rosario at the forefront” and they explain that, in addition to winning the vote with activities in the neighborhoods, on voting day they must work in mobilizing the Sandinista vote and defending it in the Polling Stations and Voting Centers, whether as prosecutors, JRV members or CV coordinators.
Municipal without competition for the FSLN
For Monica Baltodanodissident of the government party and municipalist, the UVE are the structures that at one time were under the command of Colonel Lenín Cerna, former secretary of organization of the FSLN, separated from his party position after conflicts with Murillo in 2011.
“Right now they are going to compete alone. That is the matter: the situation has not changed in relation to last November,” said Baltodano, who believes that at the local level, the leadership can opt for the re-election policy, making small adjustments in places where they have had some crises.
Baltodano said that more internal conflicts can be expected in the FSLN, but this time over positions in the councils, where militants can have a small diet. That is the reason for her for the call for unity, trying to prevent the differences that exist in the territory from arising.
“The fight for the bones is going to be strong. They are going to collide with Chayo’s reelectionist logic that proposes reelecting them, to avoid conflicts. But what happens is that before there was more to distribute, now there is a crisis, ”says the former commander.
Migration is affecting the population
Baltodano said that, in a recent meeting with 20 territorial leaders, the information they gave him is that the municipalities are being affected by migration: the population is choosing to go to the United States. “There is no work, the salary is not enough and the cost of living has increased,” she added.
According to the municipalist, this situation of economic crisis is being felt by supporters of the ruling party. Many have stopped defending the presidential family with the same enthusiasm. The essential thing, however, before any evaluation, is that there is no electoral competition.
Disjointed opponents seek political survival
The Supreme Electoral Council, under the control of Ortega, suspended legal status to the last opposition party Ciudadanos por La Libertad in August 2021. Ortega was re-elected last year, after imprisoning seven presidential candidates and having only collaborationist political parties accompany him on the electoral ballot.
It also suspended the legal personality of the Democratic Restoration Party (PRD), planned to be the electoral vehicle of the opposition platform National Coalition. For the municipal elections of 2022, the panorama of these two political forces is irregular.
The PRD formally disappeared as a political party. Julio González, former Secretary of Political Coordination of the PRD, declared that this organization had finally been extinguished to make way for a new party called “Let’s Go Ahead.”
González reported that they are in the stage of forming departmental boards of directors, as part of the requirements demanded by the CSE. The intention of this political force is to participate in the municipal elections, as long as the electoral power provides approval before calling these elections.
When González was asked if they trusted the CSE to carry out transparent elections, he replied that “they had to continue fighting.” He emphasized that they are not considering any alliance with another political force, until they have the final approval of the electoral power.
CxL is not making any efforts to reactivate its status in the face of these municipalities, according to sources linked to the leadership of that party. For its part, Oscar Sobalvarro, who was the presidential candidate of this organization before being “decapitated”, said in brief statements that until they rule on the appeals filed to challenge the cancellation of legal status, he will decide whether to continue in politics. Meanwhile, he is focused on his facet as a rancher and agricultural producer.
