The illusory arguments of Daniel Ortega’s regime to ban opposition parties and candidates in the next elections

Daniel Ortega’s regime launched an offensive this week to decapitate the opposition which intends to face it in the elections next November. In less than 24 hours The electoral court eliminated two opposition parties and began this Thursday a legal procedure which could lead to the inhibition, even to the imprisonment, of Cristiana Chamorro Barrios, the woman of the opposition who obtains the highest score in the polls.

Last Monday, nine men and two women accused the Supreme Electoral Council (SSC) of the National Restoration Party (PRD) – the only legal formation that the National Opposition Coalition had left to participate in the elections – of being in alliance with groups that contradict their religious principles. The next day, in less than 24 hours, The electoral tribunal removed the legal status of the PRD and based its decision, among other things, on the fact that “Reverend Saturnino Hodgson Cerrato (party chairman) opposes all Christian principles by allying himself in the electoral process current with people who promote anti-values ​​that do not correspond to evangelical principles ”.

The PRD is a recently formed party, of evangelical Christian origin, and the “anti-values” mentioned in the decision of the electoral tribunal are “The provocation of the death of the womb through abortion, homosexuality, lesbianism and injustice.”

“It’s arbitrary or even absurd”says Miguel Mora, PRD candidate. “It is a political party, it is not a church, and a political party has its statutes and can form de facto and legal alliances if it deserves it. It’s so absurd that I don’t see how they can support it legally“.

This party was the only legal option left to the opposition bloc called the National Coalition, which brings together several civil society organizations, some of which arose out of the 2018 protests.

The group that challenged the PRD identified itself as “evangelical pastors”, they do not belong to this party and are people linked to the ruling Sandinista Front. “We don’t know them, they weren’t members of the PRD and they have nothing to do with the PRD,” Mora says.

At the same time, the electoral tribunal annulled the legal status of the Conservative Party, arguing that this party has expressed its intention not to participate in the elections scheduled for next November due to the lack of guarantees of freedom and transparency. Nicaraguan electoral law provides that a political party that does not participate in an electoral process loses its legal status. Alfredo César, president of the Conservative Party, considers the decision of the Supreme Electoral Council to be a legal aberration because it condemns something that did not happen. “They judge an intention and not a fact,” he said.

This Thursday, Christian Chamorro Barrios was summoned to the Ministry of the Interior, under the indication of having found “Clear signs of money laundering“In the foundation that she led until a few months ago. Chamorro Barrios is the daughter of former President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, and since expressing her willingness to compete with Daniel Ortega in the elections next November, He has led all of the opinion polls that have been done.

Although Chamorro is not part of any party or organization, the process initiated by the regime seems to aim to explode a candidacy that evokes in the collective memory of Nicaraguans the defeat that Dona Violeta inflicted on Daniel Ortega 31 years ago. “They are mounting gruesome and terrible actions to prevent us from continuing to work for Nicaragua. They want to prevent Nicaraguans from going to vote freelyHe told reporters as he left the interrogation inside.

“I see a regime in electoral panic“Says Miguel Mora, official candidate of the banned PRD, a journalist whose television channel was confiscated by the Ortega regime and kept in prison for nine months, accused of instigating” terrorism “, as he called them. events of 2018. ” It is too early to do this: kick the table, burn Nicaragua and reign in its ashes ”.

Mora is in favor of voting against Ortega despite the conditions, on the premise that “the opposition must do what the dictator does not want to do”.

“They are going to pay the costs,” he said. “We have to fight until the last day so that they express their panic, make the mistakes they make and bear the political costs that they will have to bear. Abstention is abandonment. Abstention is what the dictator wants“.

Sociologist Cirilo Otero, meanwhile, has a totally opposite opinion. “Everything shows that the doors and windows are completely closed in this electoral process.at. Not worth the wait to meet the schedule and whine on November 8, 2021 to shout it was a fraud“, dice.

For Otero, what we see in Nicaragua is a minority group that uses power to set traps, remove potential winners from the game and win despite being a minority. “The man (Ortega) knows he’s going to lose everywhere. There is fear of the results. He has strength in his arms and the money he still has. I no longer see it as a government, it is one more group in social, political and economic conflict. It is not a government because it does not have the capacity to meet, to lead, to transform, to propose, to dialogue, to negotiate, they do not have any of these possibilities. What can be clarified is their fear of participating and playing in transparent elections. “

“It is necessary to declare that we are not going to the elections because there are no conditions. But we have to say it now and communicate to the national and international community why we are not going, to summon all the people who are not going either. Let (Ortega) be alone, leave only 15%, which is all he can have, ”he adds.

According to the sociologist, by now declaring the electoral road closed “it means that there will be no support from the international community for a government that could result from this outrage that Ortega will lead”, and according to his calculations , Daniel Ortega’s regime will not be able to support a declaration of illegality. “Ortega has two basic fears: one, the sanctions, and two, the mobilization of people in the streets“.

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