Supreme Electoral Council Cancels Legal Status of PC, MRS and Two Indigenous Parties
May 27, 2008 – Nicaragua Network Hotline
On May 22 Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) spokesperson Felix Navarette
announced that the CSE magistrates had voted to cancel the legal status of
four political parties, the Conservative Party, the Sandinista Renovation
Movement (MRS), the Multi Ethnic Party for Caribbean Coast Unity (PAMUC) and
the Multi Ethnic Indigenous Party (PIM). Navarette said the decision to
suspend the legal status of the Conservative Party, PAMUC and PIM was due to
the fact that these three parties had not met the legal requirement to
present candidates in over 80% of municipalities for the upcoming local
elections. The decision to suspend the MRS’ legal status, he said, was
due to its failure to present sufficient documentation of internal structural
changes, an accusation the MRS denies. Navarette said that the parties had
six days to appeal the resolution. Cancellation of legal status does not
prevent a party from running candidates but does eliminate their right to
public financing.
On May 23 Enrique Saenz and Azalea Aviles, presidents of the MRS and the
Conservative Party respectively, expressed their outrage at the CSE
resolution and denied the claim that their parties had failed to fulfill the
requirements of the Electoral Law. Saenz produced correspondence with the CSE
which he said proved that the MRS had presented all the necessary
documentation on time. Saenz said that the CSE decision is “part of an
attempt to close political spaces” and that he and his colleagues will
do all they can “to defend this right legally and politically.”
Aviles described the CSE decision as “unfounded” denying that the
Conservative party had failed to reach the candidate requirement. The
Conservative Party has had a long fall since the days that it was the
principal opposition to the Liberal Party and the two parties traded power
through periodic civil wars. Aviles accused the CSE of being under control of
a pact between the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC) and the Sandinista
Party (FSLN).
The PLC and FSLN agreement under which each party votes for the other
party’s nominees to the CSE, Supreme Court, and other government
agencies, results in an even split between those parties in most government
institutions. The CSE, which has an odd number of magistrates, is presided
over by Roberto Rivas who is said to represent Cardinal Obando y Bravo. Rivas
confirmed the CSE decision on May 23 saying that in many cases the failure to
fulfill the prerequisite of presenting enough candidates is because
candidates dropped out after the electoral registration deadline.
The Nicaragua Network Hotline is prepared from the Nicaragua News Service and other
sources. To receive a more extensive weekly summary of the news by e-mail or
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