The municipal elections in Nicaragua concluded on Sunday, after an election day with little influx of voters and questioned by complaints of arrests of opponents and other acts of political violence.
The 3,106 voting centers installed for the suffrage of some 3.7 million Nicaraguans over the age of 16 and responsible for electing 153 mayors, 153 deputy mayors and more than 6,000 councilors closed at 6:00 p.m. local time (00:00 GMT on Monday ).
In a first evaluation of the day, the independent observatory Urnas Abiertas pointed out that the elections were held “under absolute control” of the governing Sandinista Front in the territories, where people were “surveilled by the ruling party block by block” to force them to vote. or to besiege them in case they are opponents.
According to the report, state workers were “pressured” to vote and in 63% of the polling stations observed, “checkpoints were installed” and surveillance by Sandinista political operators, to find out who was going to vote. and who doesn’t.
[Con información de The Associated Press]
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