Opposition blocs negotiate electoral alliance, racing against the clock in Nicaragua

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The two main opposition blocs in Nicaragua held negotiations on Monday, May 10, to sign an electoral alliance with a view to next November’s elections, in which the country’s president, Sandinista Daniel Ortega, seeks new reelection.

During the negotiations, both the Citizens’ Alliance and the National Coalition verbally agreed to participate in the November 7 elections at the Citizens for Liberty (CxL) party box, the venue of the meetings between the two blocs.

The Citizens’ Alliance, integrated by the CxL (center-right) and the organization Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy, to which belong, representatives of the two main employers’ organizations and student leaders, said that the organizations and parties that make up the coalition “expressed their willingness to participate in the electoral process in the CxL’s box”.

He also informed that they would continue “the ongoing process of conversations with the Democratic Restoration Party (PRD)”, which is part of the coalition, with the mediation of Dennis Martinez, former Major League Baseball pitcher, “given the subscription of an electoral alliance within the terms established by the Electoral Calendar”.

Last Thursday, the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE), controlled by the Sandinistas, set a deadline Wednesday to register alliances of parties with a view to these elections.

LEGAL REPRESENTATION

In a press conference, members of the National Coalition confirmed that they accepted participation in an electoral alliance in the CxL box. However, they have not yet subscribed to the commitment.

“The National Coalition, consistent with its firm conviction that the unity of all democratic forces in a broad electoral alliance is a guarantee to confront Orteguismo in next November’s elections successfully, has developed in the last days and hours, all efforts to concretize it with the Citizens’ Alliance,” said that group.

This motley coalition explained that they presented to the Citizens’ Alliance a proposal for an electoral alliance, which includes the election of a legal representative by common agreement, “who has the necessary confidence of both parties, with the presence of a guarantor and the accompaniment of a Consultative Committee of three people to support the decisions of the legal representative.”

The presidential pre-candidate for the National Coalition Felix Maradiaga said that they proposed a Catholic Church member as legal representative of the electoral alliance.

QUOTAS FOR DEPUTIES

They also proposed reaching a consensus on a method for selecting candidates that is satisfactory for both parties; to ally two blocks: Alianza Ciudadana and Coalición Nacional; to agree on a common plan of government, and to form the respective joint directive councils.

Likewise, they agreed that the candidacies for deputies would be distributed in equal proportion to 50% of each bloc.

“We have given in for Nicaragua. Now we are waiting for CxL’s response,” said Maradiaga, an academic and former secretary of the Ministry of Defense (2004-2007).

“We hope that the Citizen Alliance considers this proposal to proceed immediately to the subscription of the electoral alliance that concretizes the unity that the Nicaraguan people demand to conquer democracy and end once and for all with the tragedy that Orteguismo means for Nicaragua,” said the coalition.

The National Coalition is formed by the PRD and the indigenous Yatama party, which is suspended, in addition to the organizations Fuerza Democrática Nicaragüense (FDN), Unidad Nacional Azul y Blanco and Movimiento Campesino.

Opponents are looking for ways to defeat the Sandinistas, led by Daniel Ortega, 75 years old, who on January 10 completed 14 consecutive years in his second stage as president of Nicaragua, after coordinating a Government Junta from 1979 to 1985 and presiding over the country for the first time from 1985 to 1990.