The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) pointed through Alberto Brunori, representative for Central America and the Caribbean, which is not surprising with the results of Daniel Ortega’s municipal elections, where he won the country’s 153 mayoralties.
“It is not unusual in an electoral process that has been characterized by the repression of dissident voices and the undue restriction of political rights and civil liberties,” Brunori said through the Twitter account of OHCHR.
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The expert recalled that between November 1 and 8, human rights organizations reported more than 30 “political arrests” carried out by the Police at the service of the Ortega regime.
In addition, he said that the control of the dictatorship, especially in public powers at the national level “and today also in local organizations, confirm that Nicaragua is going through an authoritarian political phase and a deep allergy to political and almost absolutist pluralism.”
“Certainly – Ortega’s policy – is incompatible with the principles and values of democracy, the rule of law and human rights,” Brunori added.
It concluded that the right to vote and to be elected in genuine and periodic elections “are closely linked to other human rights, the enjoyment of which is decisive for any authentic electoral process, such as democracy and the strengthening of the rule of law.”
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OACNUDH’s reactions occur when Ortega has affirmed that the municipal processes were carried out “freely and democratically”, in addition to “a large number of Nicaraguans who came out to vote”, however the independent Observatory Urnas Abiertas indicates that only a little more 18 percent of citizens participated in what has been called an electoral farce.
Like the presidential elections in 2021, the municipal votes were carried out in a context of repression, siege and imprisonment of opponents.
