Nicaragua: Daniel Ortega, candidate for an election free from serious opposition
Daniel Ortega is running for a fourth consecutive term at the head of Nicaragua, along with his wife Rosario Murillo, candidate for the vice-presidency.
AP - Alfredo Zuniga
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
The contenders had until Monday to present their candidacy for the presidential election on November 7.
Unsurprisingly, President Daniel Ortega will run for a fourth consecutive term.
He will face only one other candidate, the most serious opponents having been arrested in recent months.
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It is a duo formed by a former guerrilla of the anti-Sandinist "Contra" and a former Miss Nicaragua who will face the current president Daniel Ortega, who is running for a fourth consecutive term, with his wife, the vice-president Rosario Murillo.
Unsurprisingly, the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN, ruling party) unanimously approved his candidacy on Monday.
He had already ruled the country from 1979 to 1990.
Critical social networks
The other applications were invalidated.
In the 1980s, Oscar Sobalvarro was the leader of the counter-guerrilla war funded by the United States to fight the far-left Sandinista guerrilla of the current president, recalls our correspondent in Mexico,
Antonella Francini
.
Oscar Sobalvarro and Berenice Quezada have been fiercely criticized on social media for their participation in elections that many call a masquerade.
The Citizens for Freedom Alliance defended its candidates in a tweet: “
We are the opposition's last hope for all Nicaraguans who want to move from dictatorship to democracy.
"
About thirty opponents arrested, including seven potential candidates
Since then,
around thirty opponents of Daniel Ortega have been arrested
under laws adopted at the end of 2020, the political implications of which to silence the opposition have sparked an international outcry.
At least seven of them expected to stand for election.
EU sanctions Daniel Ortega's wife
The European Union also decided on Monday August 2 to impose sanctions on eight Nicaraguan politicians and officials for their responsibility in "
serious human rights violations
" in the country.
Among them, the vice-president also first lady and a son of President Ortega.
"
The detention of a potential seventh presidential candidate last weekend sadly illustrates the extent of the repression in Nicaragua and casts a grim picture for the next elections,
" the EU statement said.
European sanctions in addition to those of the United States and Canada, adopted after the measures taken by the regime against the opposition and the bloody crackdown on anti-government protests in 2018.
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Nicaragua
Daniel ortega