Development: On 2 August Nicaragua’s ruling Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) party formally named President Daniel Ortega and First Lady Rosario Murillo as their presidential and vice-presidential candidates ahead of the 6 November general elections.
Significance: The announcement regarding Murillo – who already wields considerable power as the official government spokesperson – has been slammed by Ortega’s detractors as yet another attempt to concentrate power in the hands of his family. In the absence of a genuine opposition, and with the FSLN in firm control of the national electoral authority (CSE) along with all other institutions, Ortega is widely expected to win a third consecutive re-election in November. The confirmation of his widely anticipated candidacy comes as Ortega continues to face strong criticism – both domestically and abroad - following the CSE’s highly controversial 29 July decision to remove 28 national assembly members (16 seated and 12 alternates) of the main opposition Partido Liberal Independiente (PLI) from their popularly-elected positions. This followed the deputies' alleged refusal to recognise Pedro Reyes Vallejos as the PLI’s new leader (and now presidential candidate) following another controversial CSE ruling issued in June, which stripped long-time Ortega opponent Eduardo Montealegre of the PLI leadership and handed it to Reyes, reportedly an Ortega ally.
- Ortega trumpeted the decision to choose his wife as running mate as evidence of the FSLN’s commitment to gender equality. He boasted that while in 2006 – the year he won election for the second time - women held 16.6% of ministerial posts (heading up two ministries), in 2016 there are nine female ministers (56.25% of the cabinet). As regards the 92-member unicameral national legislature, Ortega said that while in 2006 21.73% of legislators were female, this had risen to 42.39%. He also claimed that 56.45% of the FSLN’s 62 deputies currently are women, up from 36.84% in 2006.
- It is worth pointing out that for all Ortega’s feminist rhetoric, he is responsible for one of the biggest setbacks to women's rights in recent years – the blanket ban on abortion. Implemented in 2006, the ban prohibits abortion, even when continuing pregnancy risks the life or health of the mother, or when the pregnancy is the result of rape. The measure, which was used by the FSLN to win over the support of the Roman Catholic Church in the run-up to the 2006 elections, remains a cause célèbre for local and international human rights NGOs.
- Prominent opposition figures such former FSLN guerrilla commander Dora María Téllez, of the dissident Movimiento Renovador Sandinista (MRS) party, were clear that Murillo’s candidacy was intended to cement the presidential couple's hold on power. Téllez described it as an attempt to “impose a single party regime, headed up by a family dynasty with economic and political power”.
- Like Ortega – who remains popular as a result of his government’s social programmes and iron grip on security – Murillo also retains widespread support. The latest poll by M&R Consultores, published on 22 July, put her popularity at 82.8% (compared with 82.2% for Ortega), while support for the FSLN – which this year is heading up an alliance of 17 political parties and movements, known as Alianza Unida Nicaragua Triunfa - is on 60%. The poll, which interviewed 1,601 people across the country, showed support for the opposition at just 5%, while 34% did not give their preferences.
Looking Ahead: The CSE’s latest move against the PLI continues to provoke a response, both at home and abroad. As well as local private sector lobbies like the Consejo Superior de la Empresa Privada (Cosep) and human rights groups such as Centro Nicaragüense de Derechos Humanos (Cenidh) which have come out strongly against the decision, on 1 August the US government - which has already expressed concern over Ortega’s refusal to invite international electoral observers to oversee this year’s elections – waded in. US State Department spokesperson John Kirby said in a statement that the US government “is gravely concerned by the actions of the Nicaraguan government and Supreme Court to limit democratic space in advance of presidential and legislative elections in November. We strongly urge the Nicaraguan government to create a more open environment for free and fair elections that will allow the Nicaraguan people to determine the future of their country”.
