The marathon has begun …
2020 Marzo Nicaragua
With more than 60 political prisoners still behind bars, the entire country under official control, paramilitaries flaunting their repressive viciousness...
Three electoral scenarios in three Nicaraguas
2017 Diciembre Nicaragua
The government’s elite business allies and their lobbyists in Washington, hired to halt approval of the Nica Act designed to sanction the government...
Will Ortega make concessions between now and 2021?
2017 Diciembre Nicaragua
Nicaraguans have gone to the polls four times since Daniel Ortega took office in January 2007: to elect municipal government officials in 2008 and 2012...
Supreme Electoral Tribunal under siege
2017 Abril El Salvador
The struggle between those wanting to maintain El Salvador’s social structure and those wanting to transform it has gone through different moments and...
A new move on the game board: The voters’ massive “NO!”
2016 Noviembre Nicaragua
The governing party was guaranteed a massive victory with no need for ballot fraud this time after having prohibited both national and international...
“We need new, authentic elections and a government of national unity”
2016 Noviembre Nicaragua
So, what now, after the consummated electoral farce of November 6? Answering this question requires us to look further into the future. Discussing...
“This time they committed the perfect fraud”
2016 Noviembre Nicaragua
Between Daniel Ortega’s first consecutive reelection on November 6, 2011, and his re-inauguration on January 10, 2012, a group of Nicaraguan statis¬ticians...
To vote or not to vote? That is the question
2016 Septiembre Nicaragua
Vote, abstain, annul one’s vote by damaging the ballot… these choices are causing anguishing discussions among Nicaraguans. The dilemma of whether to...
The civic path is taking on tinges of rebellion
2016 Julio Nicaragua
We in the Independent Liberal Party (PLI) were expecting the blow Daniel Ortega delivered, which prevents us from running in the upcoming elections....
A preliminary sketch of this year’s electoral scenario
2016 Febrero Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the only Latin American country today in which confidence in elections as a civic mechanism for changing government has taken a major dive....
How we got to these “low intensity” elections
2012 Noviembre Nicaragua
If you were to ask me how reliable I think the upcoming municipal elections will be, I’d have to say hardly. And I’m referring to the technical point...
2012 municipal elections: Chronicle of an outcome foretold
2012 Noviembre Nicaragua
According to the official data of the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE), the FSLN won 134 of the country’s 153 mayoral seats with 67.9% of the total votes....
Forty years later, another military President
2011 Diciembre Guatemala
On November 6, the same day as Nicaragua’s elections, but without the fraud or violence, Guatemala held its second round of voting for President. Retired...
The government must take Gadea’s 800,000 voters into account
2011 Diciembre Nicaragua
Nicaragua’s history has been plagued by ongoing political conflicts. Even though all have had economic and social causal factors, they were all struggles...
Notes on the elections in the North Caribbean region
2011 Diciembre Nicaragua
I traveled to the North Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN) on November 1 to see how the “civic fiesta” was developing in Bilwi, the region’s capital,...
European Union: A lack of neutrality and transparency
2011 Noviembre Nicaragua
The European Union (EU) Electoral Observation Mission arrived in Nicaragua on October 12 and soon spread out across the country. Led by socialist European...
Elections 2011: Nicaragua lost again
2011 Noviembre Nicaragua
Two and a half weeks after election day, Nicaragua remains trapped between two utterly contradictory versions of what happened on November 6 and what...
Disquieting forecasts in the run-up to November 6
2011 Noviembre Nicaragua
Fifteen years ago, Ethics and Transparency (E&T), the Nicaraguan chapter of Transparency International, was only the second or third national electoral...
FSLN wins by hook and by crook
2011 Noviembre Nicaragua
The FSLN painstakingly planned to win these elections by hook or by crook. And it won them by both… We’ll never know how many votes the FSLN won fairly...
Ethics and Transparency: The published results don’t merit credibility
2011 Noviembre Nicaragua
Working under a concept of sovereignty and basic rights, the Ethics and Transparency Civic Group did not request authorization from the Supreme Electoral...
Venezuela: Pieces for Analyzing Venezuela’s Election Results
2010 Octubre América Latina
Venezuela’s reality after its elections for parliament on September 26, 2010, is a glass half full for some and a glass half empty for others. The results...
A Grassroots Drive Pushes ARENA out of Government
2009 Abril El Salvador
On Sunday, March 15, 50,000 Salvadorans poured into the streets surrounding the Alberto Masferrer Plaza of San Salvador to celebrate the electoral triumph...
Looking at the Ruins of a Defiled Electoral Process
2009 Marzo Nicaragua
Since its founding in 1996, the Ethics and Transparency Civic Group (E&T) has observed 9 electoral processes in Nicaragua and accompanied them in over...
The Crystal Ball Is Still Cloudy
2009 Enero El Salvador
As a result of negotiations among the smaller political parties led by the National Conciliation Party (PCN) and Walter Araujo, former ARENA National...
How to Read ARENA’s Electoral Campaign
2008 Julio El Salvador
In El Salvador, the municipal, legislative and presidential elections only coincide every 15 years. March 2009 will be one such occasion.
The electoral...
A Respectful Message to The Sandinista Movement
2006 Noviembre Nicaragua
I think the vote for the MRS Alliance was considered and rational. It was a difficult vote for a part of the elector-ate because it required a psychological...
A Characterization of FSLN Voters And a Few Forecasts
2006 Noviembre Nicaragua
The FSLN’s uproarious rejoicing began before the first vote was counted. Comes the parade now with one accord / Marching comes the army and the clear,...
From “Governing from Below” To Governing Right Up at the Top
2006 Noviembre Nicaragua
After 16 years making good on his promise to “govern from below” following his defeat in the 1990 elections, Daniel Ortega finally re-won the presidency...
The FSLN in the National Assembly: Pact with the PLC or Ally with the ALN?
2006 Noviembre Nicaragua
Although the Sandinista National Liberation Front’s electoral victory can be qualified in different ways, the fact that its candidates and propaganda...
In Tight Elections, Annulling Votes Can Change the Results
2006 Octubre Nicaragua
Citizens who participate in elections normally judge them as good or bad based on whether their favored candidates won or lost. For electoral observers,...
The 2006 Elections: A Contradictory Outcome
2006 Abril El Salvador
The results of the March 12 legislative and municipal elections can be interpreted in many ways. None of the six contending political parties was able...
Coast Elections: Whose Temperature Was Taken?
2006 Marzo Nicaragua
On March 5, voters on the Caribbean side of Nicaragua had their fifth opportunity to elect the 45 Regional Council members in what is officially called...
2004: Municipal Elections: Connecting Dots for the Bigger Picture
2004 Noviembre Nicaragua
It’s still too soon to draw definitive conclusions about the causes and consequences of the electoral results. Nonetheless, some common elements have...
2004 Municipal elections: FSLN-Convergence Victory in Numbers
2004 Noviembre Nicaragua
The polls predicted a Sandinista victory, but not such a huge one. Before the day was over on Sunday, November 7, the FSLN-Convergence had run away...
These Elections Will Test the Convergence’s Validity and Future
2004 Octubre Nicaragua
The National Convergence is an alliance of political parties, groups and individual personalities.
The parties include the FSLN and the MRS, both...
The 2004 Municipal Elections: Final Forecasts
2004 Octubre Nicaragua
Less than a month away from the November 7 municipal elections, there appears to be little enthusiasm among potential voters. The positions of the different...
The Northwest, North and Center North: Electoral Analysis and Forecasts
2004 Septiembre Centroamérica
The elections to decide who will run Nicaragua’s 152 municipalities will be held on November 7. And while the politically important Managua municipal...
Why Two Petty Peddlers Wanted to Buy Electoral Time
2003 Diciembre Nicaragua
The recent attempt by Daniel Ortega and Arnoldo Alemán to reactivate the pact they originally hammered out to manipulate the 2001 elections demonstrated...
PLC: The Resounding Winner
2001 Noviembre Nicaragua
The politics of Alcolea perfectly reflected its people’s inertia and distrust. It was a politics defined by its two strong leaders, a fight between...
The Road to the Elections Was Paved with Fraud
2001 Noviembre Nicaragua
Towards the end of 1997, Nicaraguans began to hear the first rumors and fragmentary bits of news about a pact being forged by Arnoldo Alemán and Daniel...
The Political Culture of the Three Nicaraguas
2001 Noviembre Nicaragua
The image of Nicaragua as a single country is a fiction built by a patriotic school curriculum. Marked contrasts separate what is administratively and...
Did Managua’s Gang Members Vote?
2000 Noviembre Nicaragua
A large number of the voters who gave the FSLN its victory in the municipality of Managua were young, but how many of those youths are from the capital’s...
Nicaragua’s Municipal Elections: The Good, the Bad and the Uncertain
2000 Noviembre Nicaragua
Nicaragua’s November 5 municipal elections came to a lamentable finish, with the governing Constitutionalist Liberal Party (PLC) leaders putting off...
A Country Divided: Relative Defeats and Victories
2000 Noviembre Nicaragua
The biggest success was the FSLN’s victory in Managua but the hands-down winner, even in Managua, was abstention. All other wins, both Liberal and Sandinista,...
Disrespect for Political Pluralism Tainted the Elections
2000 Noviembre Nicaragua
Ever since the first elections following the July 1979 revolution were held in 1984, the electoral process has been repeated periodically, always with...
Jinotepe and Diriamba: Two Case Studies of a Defeat
2000 Noviembre Nicaragua
Jinotepe: The PLC’s big plumThe surprising victory of the Constitutionalist Liberal Party (PLC) in the municipality of Jinotepe stunned people...
YATAMA: Rebellion with a Cause?
2000 Noviembre Nicaragua
Violent street demonstrations led by the indigenous group YATAMA in the Caribbean town of Puerto Cabezas began on October 29 and lasted nearly a week,...
Juigalpa: A Vote to Punish the PLC
2000 Noviembre Nicaragua
This year’s municipal elections have turned Juigalpa into a Sandinista island in the middle of a hostile Liberal sea. During the campaign in the department...
The Roots of The Electoral Crisis
1996 Diciembre Nicaragua
In the last poll done by CID GALLUP before the elections, 61% of the Nicaraguans polled expressed confidence in the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) and...
Nicaragua Election Briefs
1996 Diciembre Nicaragua
History of Electoral Observation
In 1984, the first free elections in Nicaragua's history were covered by some 460 observers from 24 countries....
Observing The Observers
1996 Diciembre Nicaragua
It hasn't yet occurred to anyone to do a comparative
study, but it's quite likely that Nicaragua had more people scrutinizing its October 20 elections...
How Nicaraguans Voted
1996 Diciembre Nicaragua
Nicaragua's elections finally came to an end on November 22 with a reading of the names of all new elected au thorities. This put a full stop to one...
A New Period For the Nation
1996 Diciembre Nicaragua
It's not easy to analyze all that has happened in nicaragua as a result of the both anticipated and feared elections of October 20, 1996. They have...
Honduras: Early Moves in the Electoral Game
1992 Diciembre Honduras
Honduras' current electoral law obliges all legally registered political parties to select their own officers and candidates for government office by...
Municipal Autonomy in Nicaragua
1990 Junio Nicaragua
With the February 25 elections, Nicaragua launched a new phase of government. Municipal Councils were elected in 131 municipalities (a unit that includes...
Grassroots Power: Defending the Revolution
1990 Marzo Nicaragua
Two days after the elections, Daniel Ortega told supporters that, though the FSLN would no longer hold the reins of government, his party would go on...
Election Data
1990 Marzo Nicaragua
Total registered voters - 1,752,088
Abstention - 241,250 or 13.7%'
President/Vice President
Total valid ballots - 1,420,544
Total votes...
Governing From Below
1990 Marzo Nicaragua
Speech by President Daniel Ortega Saavedra, February 27,1990
Nonaligned Plaza, Managua*
__________________________________________
*Original...
“Strengthening the Revolutionary Process”
1990 Marzo Nicaragua
Concession Statement by President Daniel Ortega Saavedra, February 26, 1990*
________________________________________________
*Original English...
After the Poll Wars—Explaining the Upset
1990 Marzo Nicaragua
Numerous theories are being tossed about among pollsters, political theoreticians and confounded laypeople alike in an attempt to explain the large discrepancy...
International Election Observers: Nicaragua Under a Microscope
1990 Febrero Nicaragua
Nicaraguans should trust themselves. No one should think that these elections are being supervised. That is part of Nicaragua's black history......
Nicaragua's Poll Wars
1990 Febrero Nicaragua
In recent months, national and international organizations have unleashed a rash of public opinion surveys in an attempt to predict the outcome of Nicaragua's...
Nicaraguan Elections Bibliography as of December 1989
1990 Enero Nicaragua
To help those writing or giving talks about the Nicaraguan elections, the following materials on the electoral process and related issues are available...
Nicaragua's 1984 Elections—A History Worth the Retelling
1990 Enero Nicaragua
These elections have followed a liberal model, but within a revolutionary process. Perhaps the biggest success was the number of votes received by...
’Tis the season for debate
1990 Enero Nicaragua
With the electoral campaign now in full swing, it is hard to assert with a straight face that no adequate forum exists for the opposition—although some...
Negotiations and Elections: The Only Road to Peace
1990 Enero Nicaragua
In October, the Bush Administration renewed the US embargo against Nicaragua and got congressional approval for $9 million to assist the most reactionary...
Just the Facts
1989 Diciembre Nicaragua
Nicaragua’s voter registration took place during the first four Sundays of October. Despite certain areas where contra activity prevented registration...
Election Watch: Opposing the Sandinistas the "Civic" Way
1989 Diciembre Nicaragua
Vía Cívica—“Your voice is heard, your vote decides"—calls itself a patriotic, civic, non-partisan get out the vote organization, yet it is closely tied...
Just The Facts: The 1990 Elections
1989 Noviembre Nicaragua
Presidential and Vice presidential candidates registered with the Supreme Electoral Council
(listed alphabetically by party)
FSLN (Sandinista...
Voter Registration Proceeds Smoothly
1989 Noviembre Nicaragua
With two of four registration days completed as we go to press, the civic process in Nicaragua proceeds as scheduled. For the first four Sundays in...
Setting Up to Vote
1989 Octubre Nicaragua
August 25 marked the official opening day of the Nicaraguan electoral campaign. The opposition parties began their 30 minutes per day of television...
Government/Opposition Accords Prepare Terrain for Elections
1989 Septiembre Nicaragua
At the close of a marathon National Dialogue, the Nicaraguan government and the opposition political parties signed a crucial series of agreements dealing...
Just the Facts: The 1984 Elections
1989 Septiembre Nicaragua
In looking at the Nicaraguan elections scheduled for February 1990, it is useful to recall a few facts about the November 1984 elections, in which the...
To Boycott or Not to Boycott?
1989 Agosto Nicaragua
With Nicaragua's elections still more than seven months away and the campaign itself not yet officially kicked off, the process has already captured...
Students Test Electoral Waters
1989 Julio Nicaragua
Nicaraguans were given a preview of the upcoming February 1990 general elections on the nation's college campuses on May 17 and 18. In what has been...
Setting the Rules of the Game Nicaragua's Reformed Electoral Law
1989 Junio Nicaragua
"Objectively speaking, the electoral law can be called absurdly democratic, because it establishes rules of the game which are not only clean and honest,...
FMLN Proposal to Turn the Elections into a Contribution to Peace
1989 Abril El Salvador
The General Command of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) takes into account:
1. That the last five elections have not resolved...
Analysis of the Electoral Results
1984 Noviembre Nicaragua
On November 6, the day of the US elections, The Washington Post made public a “secret” and “sensitive” document prepared by the National Security...
The Final Stretch of the Electoral Process
1984 Noviembre Nicaragua
The two weeks prior to the elections were filled with intense political activity. Widespread political campaigning and public debates among all seven...
Electoral Process Moves Ahead Amid Difficulties
1984 Marzo Nicaragua
“The present law institutionalizes the right of the Nicaraguan people to elect their leaders in a free, secret, direct, and sovereign way. The Sandinista...
US Intervention and Elections in Nicaragua
1984 Febrero Nicaragua
In February 1984, the Electoral Commission of the Council of State will present its proposals for Nicaragua's upcoming national elections. Government...