Latinnews Daily - 21 November 2007

Significance: The vote is a major defeat for President Ortega. After three hours of discussions, 52 deputies from the Partido Liberal Constitucionalista (PLC), Alianza Liberal Nicaragüense (ALN) and Movimiento Renovador Sandinista (MRS) voted against the veto which effectively means rejecting any link between the executive and the CPCs.

The president argued that, as an extension of the executive the CPCs would simply encourage popular participation, his critics warned that they could be exploited by the ruling Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) to consolidate its power.

Ortega will now make an appeal of unconstitutionality against the congressional vote before the judiciary.

As well as a rejection of the CPCs, the result also suggests that the PLC-FSLN pact could be foundering. The fear had been that with the approval of the penal code on 13 November, the PLC would split over the CPCs vote, because the unofficial PLC leader, ex president Arnoldo Alemán remains beholden to Ortega for his liberty. Under the new penal code Alemán, currently serving a 20-year sentence for money laundering, could be free by the end of 2008 if the judiciary (one of the public institutions politicised under the FSLN-PLC pact) agrees to release him for good behaviour.

The fact that the entire PLC bench voted against Ortega suggests that Alemán is losing his grip on the party. He was expected to pressure the PLC deputies into supporting Ortega's position and back the presidential veto.

End of preview - This article contains approximately 272 words.

Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article

Not a Subscriber?

Choose from one of the following options

• Subscribe
• Sign up for a one-time, 14-day trial