Sandinistas assert political dominance in Nicaraguan municipal elections

The Sandinista National Liberation Front, the party of President Daniel Ortega, asserted its political dominance over the country in Sunday’s municipal elections that have been called unfair by critics, reported The Associated Press.

Before Sunday’s elections, Ortega’s party controlled 141 of Nicaragua’s 153 municipalities, although many critics thought the remaining 12 municipalities had been in the hands of parties collaborating with the regime. 

Yet after outlawing the country’s main opposition parties and arresting dozens of opposition leaders, the party now controls all of the country’s municipalities. 

Critics have called Sunday’s elections biased and unfair. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights said on Friday that Nicaragua does not have “the minimum conditions necessary” to hold free and fair elections. 

The Ortega’s regime has closed more than 2,000 nongovernmental and civil groups, claiming that they receive funding from abroad to conspire to remove him from office. An additional 100 were closed on Friday alone, the government announced. 

Additionally, the regime has silenced over 50 media outlets, including 12 Catholic radio stations and TV channels that were forced off the air for remaining critical to the regime. 

In the months leading to the presidential election last November, in which Ortega was elected to a fourth consecutive term, the regime cracked down against the opposition. More than 46 opposition leaders and six presidential candidates were arrested. 

First lady and Vice President Rosario Murillo said that Sunday’s elections were “an exemplary, marvelous, formidable day in which we confirm our calling for peace.”