Weekly Report - 27 September 2007 (INNS 1741-7422)

NICARAGUA | Liberals in disarray. The Alianza Liberal Nicaragüense-Partido Conservador (ALN-PC), one half of the recently formed "strategic alliance" with the Partido Liberal Constitucionalista (PLC) faced a serious blow this week when ALN-PC deputy, Ramiro Silva, deserted claiming he was the victim of discrimination by PC members. Silva's departure means that the ALN-PC has 21 deputies and the PLC 25, a very slim majority in the national assembly. As well as providing a setback to the alliance, which earlier in the month defeated the ruling Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) over the issue of the citizen power councils, Silva's departure also exposed internal problems in the ALN-PC. The local press reported that three ALN presidents of legislative committees, Jamileth Bonilla, Eliseo Núñez Hernández and Carlos Garcí­a, no longer attended meetings on the grounds that the party leader, Eduardo Montealegre, failed to address problems raised. Garcí­a also called for a division of the ALN-PC into two blocs. An ideological battle emerged recently over a proposed amendment to the penal code to decriminalise therapeutic abortion, defeated in congress on 13 September: the PC opposed the measure; some of the ALN deputies favoured the amendment.

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