The Urnas Abiertas observatory in its intervention before the session of the United Nations Human Rights Committee denounced the violations of civil and political rights recognized in the International Covenant on Rights.
The organization reminded the United Nations that “the 2021 and 2022 elections have been led by a Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) made up of militant magistrates and allies of the FSLN (Sandinista National Liberation Front). The electoral authority does not guarantee the independence, impartiality, and transparency required by democratic principles; on the contrary, its actions limit the universal, equal, direct, free, and secret suffrage to which Nicaraguans are entitled.”
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In this sense, they mention that the fundamental freedoms and the right to political participation “have been systematically violated in electoral processes through the exclusionary manipulation of the electoral roll, the judicial persecution of opponents, the exclusion of candidacies and the illegal use of state resources for proselytizing purposes.
The observatory warns that political violence will be of the same or worse magnitude than in the elections of the past 2021, “which makes us fear that we will see a new escalation of state violence in the municipal elections this year,” reiterates the document presented to the UN Commission.
They ask the Committee to “urge the State of Nicaragua to guarantee the development of free and transparent elections in accordance with article 25 of the Covenant, for this it is necessary to immediately cease the repression, the full freedom of political prisoners, the appointment of new electoral authorities, the return of the legal personality of the arbitrarily canceled parties, the repeal of the electoral reforms approved in 2021 and 2022, mainly the legislation to inhibit and restrict electoral competition.
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“It is urgent that the State promote an enabling environment for the exercise of the right of assembly and association and respect the right to choose and the voter’s preference,” adds Open Ballot Boxes.
Nicaragua is preparing for a new electoral process in the municipal contests this coming November 6, organizations have demanded that the civil and political rights of citizens be respected, holding credible and transparent elections.
