In response to opposition claims of fraud in the last presidential elections in 2016, Daniel Ortega agreed to work with the OAS on a package of reforms. But after the April 2018 uprising the government cut off collaboration with the OAS on electoral reforms. In light of the ongoing repression in October 2020 the General Assembly of the OAS passed a Resolution mandating electoral reforms be carried out in Nicaragua by May 2021, otherwise they will not recognize the legitimacy of results of the 2021 elections. On April 12 the Sandinista bench in the National Assembly presented their version of proposed electoral reforms. This bill incorporates recently passed laws seen as restricting the ability of the opposition to present candidates- the Law for the Regulation of Foreign Agents, and the Law for the Defense of the Rights of the People to Independence, Sovereignty and Self Determination for Peace. What follows is a joint pronouncement of opposition groups to this bill.
JOINT PRONOUNCEMENT DEMANDING AN ELECTORAL REFORM FOR FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS
For our country to peacefully overcome the profound national crisis, aggravated since 2018 by the repressive escalation of the regime, the implementation of an electoral reform is fundamental that incorporates the needed institutional and legal transformations to provide the citizens and political organizations the needed guarantees that would allow for holding free, transparent, fair, competitive and observed elections, as a first step to rebuild the democratic system and establish a Rule of Law which would ensure freedom, peace and prosperity for all Nicaraguans.
The recently begun process in the National Assembly for the election of Magistrates of the Supreme Electoral Council and the processing of the bill for the reform of the Electoral Law presented on Monday April 12 by the FSLN bench, do not contribute in any way to the achievement of that objective, which we the majority of Nicaraguans demand with the backing of the international community.
A free, fair and transparent electoral process which would safeguard the popular vote supposes the election of a new Supreme Electoral Council, capable of restoring credibility and transparency to the electoral system. For that reason, we urge the Deputies of the National Assembly that they assume their historic responsibility with a sense of Nation, to choose the ideal and honest electoral magistrates who would respect the will of the citizenry and would contribute properly to a civic and peaceful outcome to the national crisis.
The bill for the reform of the Electoral Law presented by the governing party does not respond to the national and international demand for elections with democratic attributes, because it does not include the necessary legal reforms so that in the next national elections the votes of the citizenry be respected, but instead nearly the totality of the proposals worsen the current crisis of transparency and credibility of the electoral institutions.
Among the multiple damaging aspects contained in this initiative, we see that it establishes new restrictions on political liberties, keeps intact the bipartisan structure of the electoral bodies, transfers the prevailing Police State to the electoral sphere, does not establish the auditing and cleansing of the electoral rolls, eliminates publicity about the voter rolls and the process of citizen verification, maintains the unconstitutional division between the active and passive electoral rolls, and imposes new obstacles and restrictions on political parties.
The alleged reform does not contemplate the possibility of legal recourses that would provide legal security, but rather increases the discretional faculties of the Electoral Branch, does not establish the legal norms for national and international electoral observation, does not regulate the vote of Nicaraguan residents outside the country, and undermines the popular will by allowing the Electoral Branch to replace elected officials, even on its own initiative. Likewise, the alleged reform incorporates into the electoral legislation the unconstitutional causes for the inhibition of opposition candidates contained in the Law for the Regulation of Foreign Agents and the Law for the Defense of the Rights of People to Independence, Sovereignty and Self Determination for Peace.
We the undersigned organizations have systematically demanded the regime of Daniel Ortega the application of the necessary electoral reforms so that the vote of the citizens be respected, in accordance with the agreement on the restitution of citizen rights signed by the government of Nicaragua on March 29, 2019 which included the immediate release of all political prisoners.
Today, in the face of this new attempt to continue keeping us Nicaraguans from freely exercising our right to choose by voting, we undersigned organizations UNITE OUR VOICES to categorically REJECT this bill for the reform of the Electoral Law and DEMAND the implementation of reforms in accord with those proposed by the General Assembly of the OAS in their Resolution of October 21, 2020.
See end of original Spanish version for list of signatory organizations.