Nicaragua ligger fast i sandinisternes og præsident Daniel Ortegas greb – men det mellemamerikanske land oplever donorflugt i u-landsbistanden, også fra Danmark, som har lukket sit bistandsprogram og sin ambassade.
Nicaragua’s governing Sandinista party has widened its control at local level, winning 134 of 153 mayoral posts in Sunday’s elections, results indicate, reports BBC online Monday.
President Daniel Ortega’s Sandinistas won some 75 per cent of votes cast, officials said. The opposition alleged fraud (svindel), and the US state department voiced concerns over the electoral process.
Faced with a fragmented opposition, the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) won 134 municipalities (kommuner), up from 109 in the last elections in 2008.
The FSLN retained control of the capital, Managua, which they have governed for the past four years. Turmout was some 57 per cent.
Opposition parties complained that voting lists were incomplete or confusing, and that some people had been allowed to vote more than once.
“We participated because the people should have a choice. But we know that everything was rigged and the Electoral Council did what Daniel Ortega ordered,” Congressman Eliseo Nunez of the opposition Independent Liberal Party said.
Election monitors from the Organization of American States noted some problems with voting lists but said the elections had been held in “an atmosphere of civility”.
President Ortega was re-elected in a landslide victory in 2011, after the Sandinista-controlled Supreme Court overturned a ban on consecutive terms (at han ikke kunne genvælges).
