As expected, several countries do not recognize the results of the elections in Nicaragua

On Sunday the questioned general elections were held in Nicaragua, in which no candidate opposed to the Daniel Ortega regime could participate due to being arrested and prosecuted.

As expected, Ortega was the winner, although media such as Confidencial cite private sources to say that abstention reached 81%, which would be a great sign of rejection of the elections in the midst of a situation of democratic crisis, which has already been reported in previous months by international organizations, civil organizations and foreign governments.

Ortega and his wife and vice president, Rosario Murillo, obtained first place with 75%, followed by Walter Espinoza (14.4%), from the Constitutionalist Liberal Party, and Guillermo Osorno (3.44%), from the Nicaraguan Christian Way party .

The newspaper The Press It also highlights that the electoral process was marked mainly by actions against the opposition and critics of the Government, with 39 people being arrested, including seven presidential candidates who wanted to compete with Ortega. As well as several parties and coalitions were removed from the electoral race.

The media, whose headquarters has been seized by the regime, indicated that it was able to verify the low number of voters and that state workers indicated that they were forced to vote by superior orders.

Now the problem becomes more regional, continental and international, since from the same Sunday it began to be known which governments would not recognize the results, which would increase five more years to the 14 in a row that Ortega has already been in power, not counting his period. in the 80s in the middle of the civil war.

Before the election data were known, the president of the United States, Joe Biden, announced that this was an “election pantomime”: “The Ortega Murillo family now governs Nicaragua as autocrats, not different from the Somoza family against whom they Ortega and the Sandinistas fought four decades ago. “

For Michel Leví, analyst and coordinator of the Andean Center for International Studies at the Simón Bolívar Andean University, the scene of the elections in Nicaragua reveals the positions of countries that view democracy as a mechanism to legitimize de facto governments, which they do not respect the principles of the rule of law and the separation of powers.

In this sense, “the countries that legitimize the elections in Nicaragua generally use the same modus operandi, or they intend to use it, to legitimize themselves internally. For that reason, when it suits them, they invoke the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other countries ”, adds Leví. In these cases, we can cite Venezuela, Cuba and Russia, whose heads of state are criticized for their authoritarianism, who have recognized Ortega’s victory.

Esteban Santos, an international law analyst, also states that Nicaragua is a country condemned to live with dictators. It went from being a dictatorship of the right, from 1937 to 1979, with the Somoza family, to one of the left by the then Sandinista heroes who overthrew it, but who later clung to power from 1979 to 1990 and then from 2007 until the present. Being in 2017 when everything accelerated to the greater detriment of democracy, by appointing Murillo as vice president.

Santos adds that another problem is that in this country of just over six and a half million inhabitants, more than half do not believe that democracy is the best system of government.

“And how to do it if after more than three decades of Ortega in power, there are new generations that, as in the Venezuelan case, do not know of another system of government … a regime that mutated a sultanate with the sight and patience of its inhabitants and the international community. In these elections, not even the forms were kept. (Ortega is) now a full-fledged dictator, ”says Santos, who adds that there will be an escalation of sanctions against him, as well as a possible new wave of immigration due to the internal crisis and lack of opportunities.

Santos sees in the Catholic Church a growing role in the search for solutions to this problem, in a country where more than 90% define themselves as practicing Christians and Catholics.

Regarding the mechanisms that the international community has to exert pressure, it will be necessary to wait to see if they allow a solution to be found or not, taking into account other previous failures, for example, Venezuela.

“International pressure exists. Although it may be symbolic, it is very important to avoid impunity on a global level. However, a more structured international community is required, which is capable not only of denouncing but of taking effective measures so that the governments that have been elected through corruption do not go unpunished. But the problem is that the international community is divided by different interests. Countries with single regimes for years, and do not respect the alternation of power, will legitimize other countries that maintain the same principle, ”says Leví.

From Russia, President Vladimir Putin said that his team had said that local laws were followed and therefore congratulated Ortega.

While the head of European Union diplomacy, Josep Borrell, said that these elections lack legitimacy.

Four former Latin American presidents (Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Laura Chinchilla, Juan Manuel Santos, and Ricardo Lagos) have already asked the OAS to suspend Nicaragua and cut funding from it.

The leftist government of Peru affirmed that the elections held this Sunday in Nicaragua had not been “free, fair and transparent” and, therefore, “deserve the rejection of the international community,” according to a statement from its Foreign Ministry.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility of Ecuador also issued a statement rejecting these elections.

Several countries in the region have also been in favor of not knowing the results, while others were still waiting to communicate their final position.

Countries that do recognize elections in Nicaragua:

• Russia
• Cuba
• Venezuela
• Iran
• Bolivia

Countries that do not recognize elections in Nicaragua:

• Canada
• USA
• European Union (27 countries)
• Costa Rica
• Chile
• Colombia
• Panama
• Peru
• Ecuador

They have not made a clear statement or have commented on their concern in the region:

• Mexico
• Argentina
• Guatemala
• The Savior
• Paraguay
• Brazil

During the day more countries are joining, but so far these are the ones that have made their decision public. (I)