The Open Urns Citizen Observatory urged the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo to suspend and reschedule the elections, considering that “the development The illegal and fraudulent process as a whole prevents any possibility that the elections on November 7 could lead to a result that reflects “the free expression of the popular will.”
During the presentation of the report “Nicaragua, elections 2021: A malicious plan to end democracy“ explained that the elections should be “convened and organized in accordance with internationally accepted law and principles, and with the presence of qualified national and international electoral observation missions“.
The document details that, After monitoring the electoral context, they can conclude that “the legitimizing foundations of the entire electoral process have been systematically violated through the exclusive manipulation of the electoral roll, the judicial persecution of opponents and the exclusion of candidacies, the illegal use of State resources for proselytizing purposes and, in general, the lack of guarantee of rights and freedoms by the Executive Power and the electoral authority“.
Out of standards
The report insists that “the integrity of the electoral process is compromised“ and in consequence, “elections lack legitimacy“. The document was presented by Urnas Abiertas in conjunction with the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) and the Center for Political and Government Studies of the Andrés Bello Catholic University, under the auspices of the Latin American Program of the Wilson Center and CONFIDENTIAL.
“Three opposition political parties have been canceled and seven presidential candidates arbitrarily detained, which constitutes a de facto disqualification, which uses illegal and deceptive methods to eliminate all electoral competition“, mentions.
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▶ ️ Open Urns Report, IDEA and CEPyG / UCAB: NICARAGUA. ELECTIONS 2021: A PAINFUL PLAN TO END DEMOCRACYDownload the full report and the executive summary in Spanish and English at: https://t.co/QWYXKAtraa pic.twitter.com/NlK5FioycV
– Open Urns (@Open Urns) October 27, 2021
The study highlights that “the electoral authority acts outside of democratic standards of impartiality and transparency“, due to Sandinista control in the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE).
Use of State resources in favor of the FSLN
Open Urns mentions that “I know he has evidenced a coercion systematic for condition the preferences of the voter“ in favor of the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN).
Details that, up to the last fifteen from September, in 132 of the 153 municipalities of Nicaragua and with the participation of at least 23 public institutions, the use of State resources was recorded to fiparty and electoral purposes of the oficialista FSLN.
The study cautions that “There is no access to ways to monitor the financing of political parties, making this factor another opaque source of financing for the ruling FSLN, and of perks for the collaborationist parties that participate in the elections.“.
They point out that the Government has committed “systematic human rights violations“, especially against “rights of opinion, expression, peaceful assembly, association and mobilization, disrespecting the principles of non-discrimination and non-intimidation“.
Report @OpenUrnas denounces partial access to the right to assembly in Nicaragua. While the FSLN calls for massive activities, the opposition cannot meet. @confidential_ni pic.twitter.com/2VNZHr0u3k
– Yader Luna (@Lunacero) October 27, 2021
Therefore, they demand the “immediate cessation of repression, full freedom for prisoners political and guarantees procedural so that justice and repair for the victims from violations from Rights humans
and crimes from lesa humand“.
They also insist that it cease “the persecution against journalists and media“, as well as the “effective implementation“ of the necessary reforms in the electoral regulatory framework, including the powers and nature of the Electoral Power.
They call to ignore results
The organization considers “fundamental“ that “Democratic governments, international organizations and other relevant international actors make use of their good offices to demonstrate the lack of legitimacy of origin of the Nicaraguan Executive and Legislative powers ”, which will be elected on November 7.
“If there is no shift towards the full guarantee of rights human rights and electoral integrity through the reprogramming of new elections, a call is made to the international community to ignore the election result“, they demand.
The regional director of International IDEA, Daniel Zovatto, insisted that “the international community must ignore these elections and ignore your results“.
“The authoritarian regime of Ortega and Murillo has weakened and manipulated to the extreme the institutional framework and democratic practices and has seriously violated the human rights of the Nicaraguan people in their ambition to perpetuate themselves indefinitely in power.“, he expressed.
Report @OpenUrnas reveals strong anomalies in the electoral process in Nicaragua. @confidential_ni pic.twitter.com/M84l3UppK3
– Yader Luna (@Lunacero) October 27, 2021
They report violations
Urnas Abiertas, through its Observatory of Political Violence, registered that in Nicaragua, between October 1, 2020 and September 15, 2021, there were “1513 acts of political violence in the electoral context”, including the arrest of opposition leaders.
They denounce the decrease of 617 413 people in the 2021 Electoral Register, with respect to 2007. They specify that for this year the register is estimated at 4 478 033 people, for which they denounce “no natural increase of 100 000 new people per year is observed“.
They conclude, based on the trends from 1990 to 2017, that the Electoral Register should be 5.5 million people and that “the possible absence of 1 million people represents approximately 20 percent of the population eligible to vote“.
The report reports the reduction of 1,100 Voting Centers (CV) compared to the electoral cartography of 2017, which “could mean that more than a million people had a change in their assigned Polling Center“.
It also points out that the largest CV reduction occurred in Jinotega, Matagalpa and Managua, three departments that represented 36% of voters in 2017.
