NICARAGUA: SUPREME COURT RULES IN CONTENTIOUS AFTERMATH OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS.
International observers and local newspaper editorials congratulated Nicaragua on running an orderly election in November. But within days after the official results were announced, the opposition Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional (FSLN) charged that the electoral authority (Consejo Supremo Electoral, CSE) was manipulating the results to give President Arnoldo Aleman's governing Partido Liberal Constitucionalista (PLC) a big majority in the National Assembly.
Foreign ministers meeting during the XI Ibero-American Summit in November (see NotiCen, 2001-12-13) described the Peruvian and Nicaraguan presidential elections as "impeccable." The final declaration congratulated the two countries for their "demonstration of civics and democratic vocation." But in the aftermath of the relatively quiet and orderly Nov. 4 elections in Nicaragua, the major opposition party Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional (FSLN) declared political war on the CSE, challenged the right of the minor Partido Conservador (PC) to have the Assembly seat it won, threatened various lawsuits, and forced the decision on the outcome of the legislative races into the Corte Suprema de Justicia (CSJ).
Former Vice President Enrique Bolanos beat FSLN candidate Daniel Ortega in the presidential race by a decisive margin of 56% to 42% (see NotiCen, 2001-11-08). The FSLN did not challenge the vote but rebelled against the CSE count that gave the PLC 53 seats in the National Assembly, only 38 to the FSLN, and one seat to the PC. The Assembly will have 92 deputies, including unelected deputies Aleman and Ortega. Reforms passed in 1999 give unelected seats to the outgoing president and the runner-up in the presidential election (see NotiCen, 1999-12-23).
FSLN challenges legitimacy of electoral council
The CSE's early tally indicated that the FSLN would win at least 41 Assembly seats, which coincided with the FSLN's unofficial count. When the CSE certified the final count, Ortega promptly challenged it and accused CSE president Roberto Rivas and Aleman of manipulating the results. Rivas, he said, was dependent on Aleman, who, in a post-election conspiracy, had instructed Rivas on how to distribute Assembly seats. Ortega noted that before the CSE certification, Aleman announced his party had won 53 seats, the FSLN 37 and the PC 2. "The president is deciding how the votes should be counted...which is a violation of the law," Ortega said.
The FSLN also insisted that the PC had lost...
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