NICARAGUA'S ELECTIONS Another Battlefront
Jenkins, Tony
Nicaragua's ruling Sandinista Front has never harbored many illusions that the general and presidential elections scheduled for November 4 would bring peace to the country. As Interior Minister...
...Parties allied to CDN periodically withdraw from Council of State in protest, but are members of drafting commission and manage to make some amendments...
...If no other party runs we will turn the polls into a referendum to endorse everything we have done to far," he warned...
...Presidential candidate: Mauricio Diaz...
...If CDN leaders try they are likely to find themselves arrested very quickly...
...They defend large landed interests and the anti-Sandinista Catholic Church hierarchy and they condemn the Sandinistas as Marxist-Leninist puppets manipulated from Moscow and Havana...
...Yet there is still a chance that a role can be found for the CDN...
...CONSTITUTIONALIST LIBERAL PARTY (PLC): Founded in 1967 as split from traditional Liberal Party...
...Founded and dominated by popular leader Eli Altamirano...
...The people voted Sandinista on July 19 [1979, the date of the revolutionary triumph]," Borge is fond of saying...
...ticipated second Reagan Administration...
...They favor a free-market economy...
...Guarantees parties freedom to meet to discuss their positions...
...5. POPULAR SOCIAL CHRISTIAN PARTY (PPSC): A party of socialist Catholics...
...These issues have been raised as obstacles to justify a boycott," one government official claimed...
...March 1982: Debate halted with introduction of State of Emergency suspending constitutional guarantees and barring all non-Sandinista political activity...
...4. SANDINISTA NATIONAL LIBERATION FRONT (FSLN): Founded in 1961 as nationalist, Marxist, anti-imperialist revolutionary organization...
...Allows public demonstrations...
...The White House too may want to reach an agreement, for the alternatives are unpleasant...
...August 17, 1983: Parties Law passed...
...Their recent concessions have assured the participation of six other parties in the elections...
...Either they grant the conditions for a free and fair election or it's total war," snapped the president of the Fifty years of Sandinismo: Daniel Ortega announces the November elections...
...One senior Spanish socialist deputy remarked, "Their idea of revolution is to march towards a cliff singing the Sandinista anthem...
...Only the Social Christian Party, founded 27 years ago, has any real party structure outside Managua...
...Sandinista-controlled commission set up to revise law and consider amendments...
...5. General amnesty...
...4. Respect for freedom of religion...
...Not recognized by Liberal International...
...United States...
...5. Regional division of representation unfair, favoring areas where FSLN is popular...
...Led by Adsln Fletes, potential CDN vice-presidential candidate...
...choosing is a right...
...Many conservatives begin to boycott sessions...
...Has been voice of moderation within CON, though condemns FSLN as "communist dictators...
...Already nearly 1,600,000 people have registered as voters, 400,000 more than anticipated...
...The return of the CDN presidential candidate, Arturo Cruz, on July 23 after two years' self-imposed exile in Washington, changed the whole picture...
...Led by millionaire businessman Mario Rappaccioli...
...2. First two years of assembly to be devoted to drafting new constitution...
...CDN members start to withdraw periodically in protest...
...A February rally in Masaya...
...They did so not because they had been convinced that Europe could restrain the White House-the ineffectual European opposition to the Grenada invasion had dispelled that idea-but because they wanted to retain European solidarity and economic backing...
...As Interior Minister Tomis Borge puts it, "Whatever we do Reagan will find an excuse to attack us...
...Three top CDN leaders start tour of Costa Rica, Venezuela and Colombia, trying to persuade presidents of those countries that elections are not democratic and will be unrepresentative without CDN involvement...
...3. Argue that obligation to "patriotic unity" and "consolidation of the political, economic and social conquests achieved by our people" could be interpreted to justify harassment of CDN...
...No CDN members...
...2. Parties which do not stand in elections lose legal status...
...Nevertheless, until early August, the government was apparently unprepared to relax the sweeping powers it has held under emergency legislation since 1982, arguing that the military situation was worsening...
...Presidential candidate: Daniel Ortega (present coordinator of governing Junta...
...head of state to be barred from reelection...
...September 21, 1983: Commission appointed from Council of State to draft electoral law...
...In 1980, daily newspaper El Pueblo confiscated by government and entire MAP-ML leadership arrested as "ultraleftists...
...But in the end, if Washington remains unconvinced-as some members of the National Directorate believe they willthe Sandinistas are prepared...
...CDN demands immediate lifting of State of Emergency...
...Announces amnesty for all contras except top leadership and ex-Somoza National Guardsmen...
...The Sandinistas agree and claim that every major political current will be represented at the polls...
...The next day, following discussions with other opposition parties-the same talks the CDN had boycotted-the government announced the lifting of almost all the restrictions established under the State of Emergency...
...all 6 REPORT ON THE AMERtCAS 6 REPORT ON THE AMERICASthree are Sandinista sympathizers...
...Still unclear which of two conservative parties have grassroots support (see PCN below...
...One faction joined FSLN in 1978...
...Small but influential labor union (CGT-i), active among construction workers...
...Not yet officially recognized as legal party...
...State of Emergency not lifted as some had expected...
...The Sandinistas have announced that they will shortly acquire combat aircraft and they continue to mobilize thousands of youth to the mountains to prepare for the consequence of the anTony Jenkins is Managua correspondent for the BBC and The Guardian of London...
...Claims 900,000 members of Sandinista-affiliated mass organizations...
...Radical but antiMarxist liberal ideology in European mainstream...
...July 26, 1984: Cruz boycotts two rounds of talks with FSLN because of refusal to negotiate with contras...
...Allied to FSLN in Council of State...
...Supreme Electoral Council broadened to include two members of opposition...
...Within a week the CDN had formally decided to boycott the elections...
...the Sandinistas seem hellbent on a military showdown...
...Intended to recapture old liberal values of "progressive capitalism...
...Two of these, the Independent Liberals and the Democratic Conservatives, have already started to campaign on an anti-Marxist ticket in defense of private enterprise...
...Ninetyseat National Assembly to be elected by regional proportional representation, to help smaller parties...
...August 5, 1984: Nominations close without CDN registering candidates...
...FSLN refuses even to respond to document, claiming most of it is unrelated to mechanics of elections and based on false premises...
...Large Voter Registration "To say the elections won't be representative without the CDN is like saying that the elections in the States aren't representative unless the Communist Party stands," observed a leader of the Conservatives...
...This conviction has led to increased defense preparations this year...
...Traditional base of support in second city, Lemi...
...Member of CDN: led by CDN president Luis Rivas...
...Allied to FSLN in Council of State...
...3. Presidential elections to ensure strong government while new constitution is written...
...FSLN agrees with traditional parties and antiSonoza businessmen to create 33-seat Council of State...
...5Nicaragua's Elections: A Chronology June 1979: National Reconstruction Govemment Program promises "a system of effective democracy," including "the right of all Nicaraguans to participate in politics and their right to universal suffrage," but does not spell out details of democratic system envisioned...
...Believes FSLN is necessary for the time being but that PSN will eventually emerge as vanguard...
...It makes you wonder if the Sandinistas are right and the CDN never intended to run at all...
...And it was a distraction they long resisted...
...3. Suspension of State of Emergency...
...Among the points were demands for a general amnesty, a postponement of the presidential elections and respect for freedom of religion...
...One Western ambassador complained that "Giving up the right to play the political game is like signalling that they are relying on the Americans to put them in power through invasion...
...Parties granted right of appeal from CNPP to Supreme Court...
...January 14, 1984: FSLN submits three key proposals to drafting committee: I. Creation of a legislative assembly for a six-year period...
...Extends nominations until July 25...
...August 22, 1984: CDN parties banned under electoral law penalizing parties which boycott elections...
...If there is a large turnout it should be because of a genuine enthusiasm for the elections...
...Their presence will make it difficult for the government to use strong arm tactics to bring out the vote, even if it wanted to...
...As Bayardo Arce said with a shrug of his shoulders, "If the Yankees are not convinced, the boys are in the mountains waiting for them...
...The slide in CDN fortunes started when Rappaccioli revealed that the CDN had already decided to boycott the elections before Cruz's arrival...
...But, if CDN support internationally has been eroded, it is business as usual in Washington...
...Led by Alfredo Reyes...
...6. Trade union freedom...
...The about-turn is largely due to some inept political maneuvering by the Sandinistas' most consistent domestic critics, the conservative Democratic Coordinating Committee (CDN...
...An invasion, the president knows, would leave several thousand Americans dead...
...3. Concede details relating to composition of supervising body (National Council of Political Parties---CNPP...
...Decision to boycott elections has caused problems with party rank and file...
...If the talks fail, however, the Sandinistas are hoping to dispel the impression that the CDN is their only authentic opposition...
...Two days later the government offered to conduct a round of negotiations to discuss the CDN demands...
...Banking on U.S...
...They will be elections to improve revolutionary power, not to raffle off who will hold power...
...As an excuse for pulling out it won't do...
...Nevertheless, the repression of all public political opposition-under the State of Emergency-had won the CDN international sympathy and called into question the Sandinista commitment to pluralism...
...Composed of FSLN, Sandinista allies and Left opposition...
...Composilton not precisely defined, but clear private sector and conservativ'e majority...
...Challenge to Declare Bankruptcy But a CDN boycott of the elections has been in the cards since the Sandinistas first announced the date of the polls last November...
...others argue that opposition to compulsory military service will aid CDN vote...
...Mass organizations not involved, though leadership of some proposes amendments...
...8. 1979 Fundamental Statute to be inviolate until new constitution written following assembly elections, to prevent immediate presidential elections...
...It means the people's participation in the political, economic, social and cultural spheres...
...In power since 1979...
...It is still not enough, we still insist on a dialogue of national reconciliation," he said...
...Hard-line Moscow tendency, but no official relations with Soviet CP...
...CDN claim- fair elections still impossible...
...August 6, 1984: After talks with other parties (boycotted by CDN), government lifts most State of Emergency restrictions...
...La Prensa permitted to print vituperative attacks...
...Sandinistas offer to reopen nominations...
...2. Halt to human rights violations...
...August 15, 1984: CDN drops insistence on talks with contra leaders, after FDN chief Adolfo Calero shows no interest...
...S REPORT ON THE AMERICAS 40 E cc Independent Liberal Party and onetime Sandinista ally, Virgilio Godoy...
...2. Clause dropped requiring 5,000 signatures to create party...
...Sandinista concessions: I. Altered system of proportional representation to favor smaller parties...
...Presidential candidate: Carlos Cuadra...
...9. Dialogue to include contra leaders...
...Only member of CON alliance with clear political program...
...Censorship slackened, allowing La Prensa to print strongly anti-Sandinista material...
...split from PSC in 1976...
...May 25, 1984: Supreme Electoral Council bows to CDN pressure...
...The Sandinistas have been deliberately slow to apply the legal provisions which would allow them to proscribe parties which abstain in the elections...
...A continuation of the contra war of attrition has political costs back home, and does not look likely to lead to a Sandinista collapse...
...campaign extended to 12 weeks...
...Not recognized by Socialist International...
...November 1981: Debate opens on draft political parties law, first in committee and private meetings, then in Council of State...
...At a series of political rallies, Cruz, who served as ambassador to Washington from March to November 1981, was at pains to exonerate the contras, insisting that they took up arms because the government had denied them any political space...
...2. Believe CNPP will be FSLN-dominated...
...Presidential candidate: Domingo Sanchez...
...Of the three parties in the CDN, one-the Constitutionalist Liberal Party-can barely muster a few hundred members...
...7. DEMOCRATIC CONSERVATIVE PARTY (PCD): Direct descendant of traditional Conservative Party, with base of support in third city, Granada...
...Led by Mauricio Diaz...
...And a European ambassador reflected a feeling among Managua's diplomatic community when he said, "Uncontested elections will give President Reagan the argument he needs...
...He is convinced that his party can pick up many votes that would have gone to the CDN...
...The decision to hold elections-as well as the choice of presidential candidate Daniel Ortega-highlights the dominance of one current within the front...
...He claimed that the only concern was that to lift the State of Emergency would weaken the government's defense capabilities...
...Dominant voice in CDN...
...Identified with old creole aristocracy and large landed and business interests...
...August 16, 1984: U.S./Nicaraguan talks, believed to discuss CON role...
...The onus was on the government to prove its democratic intentions...
...But Cruz refused, insisting on negotiations with the contras first...
...Greeted by 300 supporters...
...But the CDN leaders are wealthy, well-educated and well-travelled, particularly in the United States...
...Under Nicaraguan law it is illegal to encourage voters to abstain...
...In response very few parties were prepared to commit themselves to the elections...
...This makes the CDN articulate and vociferous and has enabled it to assume the role of the legitimate voice of domestic opposition to the government...
...Objects to presidential elections...
...July 23, 1984: CDN presidential nominee Arturo Cruz arrives in Managua...
...For his part, Cruz has announced plans to conduct a European tour to discredit the elections...
...some Trotskyist influence...
...They were brave words, but it was clear that the government was becoming isolated...
...Business leader Alfonso Robelo resigns from Junta in protest...
...4. Ex-Somoza National Guardsmen and contra leaders banned from elections...
...The Sandinistas hope the combination of the CDN boycott, the participation of anti-Marxist parties and a large turnout will prove the elections both fair and representative...
...efforts to destabilize their administration...
...Sandinista concessions: 1. Prime object of parties is to win power...
...October-November 1983: Commission meets with members of all parties to take evidence for drafting of new law...
...November 1982: Debate resumes...
...6. INDEPENDENT LIBERAL PARTY (PLI): Founded in 1944 as split from traditional Somoza-controlled Liberal Party...
...Of the seven opposition organizations in Nicaragua, the CDN is the group whose views are most deeply antithetical to the Sandinistas...
...Leads small but important labor union, CAUS, active among textile workers...
...February 13-16, 1984: Commission meets with opposition parties...
...Hundreds of international observers and foreign journalists are expected to witness the elections...
...Sandinistas refuse...
...July 25, 1984: Cruz announces election boycott if no negotiations with contra leaders...
...censorship reduced to matters affecting "national defense...
...December 4, 1983: Government announces start of electoral process...
...Invasion For the first time irritation in the diplomatic community was directed at the CDN...
...Until now, Rappaccioli and COSEP have been the dominant voices inside the CDN...
...July 19, 1984: Government decides not to lift State of Emergency, arguing growing military threat...
...CDN objects that election date leaves insufficient time to prepare...
...9. SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY (PSD): Founded in 1979 by dissident conservatives as vehicle for middle classes to take control of revolution and guide it toward European-style mixed economy...
...These interests, they claim, would best be served by discrediting the elections in order to justify greater U.S...
...CDN says conditions not created for free and fair elections...
...Campaign will last less than two months...
...And the CDN has now dropped its demand for talks with the contras, albeit two weeks after nominations closed...
...there's more difference between us and the Sandinistas than between the Democrats and the Republicans...
...Presidential and VicePresidential elections to be decided by simple majority...
...The government still retains one last hope that it can persuade Washington to recognize the polls, which would mean an end to the war, and has agreed to discuss the issue in the current bilateral talks being conducted in Mexico...
...Inept Political Maneuvering By late August, the tables had turned...
...Sixteen-year-olds eligible to vote...
...CDN says still interested in elections but insists FSLN discuss nine-point CDN platform, including general amnesty...
...NICARAGUAN CONSERVATIVE PARTY (PCN): Founded as split from PCD in June 1984, disagreeing with PCD decision to participate in elections...
...January 4, 1984: Debate on electoral law starts...
...Holds rallies around country...
...Headed by nine-man National Directorate...
...The Sandinistas argued that these points had nothing to do with the mechanics of free and fair elections...
...December 24, 1983: CDN publishes nine-point program, demanding "dialogue of national reconciliation" to discuss: 1. Separation of state, party and Army...
...In this context, for the Sandinistas, the elections become little more than a costly distraction from the three-yearold war against the U.S.-backed counterrevolutionaries...
...May 4, 1980: Council of State convened...
...It was assumed the nine points were negotiable and most observers agreed that until the State of Emergency was lifted the opposition would be under a crippling disadvantage...
...January 31, 1984: Electoral period officially opens...
...CDN objections: I. Parties obliged to respect "basic principles of Popular Sandinista Revolution...
...Linked to it is the far-right wing of the 150-yearold Conservative Party (PCN), led by millionaire businessman Mario Rappaccioli...
...When the Sandinistas say the CDN represents a minority, they are probably right...
...But emergency provisions relaxed to allow parties to prepare for campaign...
...On December 24 the CDN published a nine-point list of demands, described by one observer as "a challenge to the government to declare political bankruptcy and to call in the international receivers...
...Of 47 seats, only I I go to private enterprise and conservatives, 24 to FSLN-affiliated groups...
...Less than 48 hours after his arrival, he announced that the ninth, and until then, least stressed point in the CDN program-negotiations between the government and contra leaders-had now become the sine qua non of CDN participation...
...3. NICARAGUAN SOCIALIST PARTY (PSN): Traditional Moscow-line CP, but less rigid than PCdcN...
...February 22, 1984: Draft election law goes to full Council of State for debate and amendment...
...If we don't win 80% of the vote we'll have cause to weep," he boasted...
...The Sandinistas argue that if a large proportion of these turn out to vote and are prepared to opt for one of the available alternatives it will be difficult to say the elections are unrepresentative...
...The State Department has let it be known that it will still not recognize the elections unless the CDN runs...
...some of their suggestions taken into account and new draft prepared...
...They voted with blood and bullets and they will defend their victory in the same way...
...Presidential candidate: Virgilio Godoy (Labor Minister until March 1984...
...member of Liberal International...
...Parties permitted to receive funds from abroad...
...Retains only some special powers of search and arrest...
...August 23, 1980: At a rally to mark end of Literacy Crusade, Defense Minister Humberto Ortega announces elections to be held in 1985, saying, "Democracy is not simply elections...
...But at the end of last year the Sandinistas finally bowed to pressure from European allies anxious to avoid a conflagration in Central America...
...On the contrary, the damage the war is doing to the economy will continue to drive more and more opponents from the middle class to emigrate, leaving the revolutionaries ever more firmly in control...
...Maybe once the foreign press watches us campaign they will see that there is a true opposition here...
...And the more people participate in all these areas, the more democracy there is...
...now dominated by conservative interests...
...Sandinistas, arguing new balance of forces, alter composition...
...Some object to voting age as benefitting FSLN...
...While Junta coordinator Ortega was convinced of the need for elections, Borge-who had presidential ambitions of his own-is said to have been won over to the idea after conferring with supporters in Europe...
...Has small trade union, CTN (A...
...elections should lead to Western democratic system...
...March 26, 1984: Electoral law passed...
...First threat of boycott...
...A Guide to the Political Parties 1. POPULAR ACTION MOVEMENT-MARXIST-LENINIST (MAP-ML): Founded in 1972 as split from FSLN...
...The Social Democratic Party, founded in 1979 by disenchanted Conservatives, has seen its support drop from a height of 5,000 members in 1981...
...He has decided to destroy us whatever the cost...
...3. Members of armed forces cannot be candidates...
...2. Television access time increased from 10-30 minutes per party per week...
...But Cruz was adamant...
...The other factor the Sandinistas are relying on is a large ballot...
...Sandinistas say this is evidence CDN is political wing of contras...
...private radio stations allowed to cover CDN activities live...
...8. SOCIAL CHRISTIAN PARTY (PSC): Founded in 1957...
...Parties can hold meetings, criticize government, form alliances, have access to media, have offices nationwide...
...PC) member Rafael C6rdova Rivas is member of goverming Junta...
...In mainstream of conservative Christian Democracy, with ideology of "social communitarianism...
...The CDN is an alliance of three small political parties, two conservative trade unions and the private business organization, COSEP...
...CDN objections: I. Voter registration open to fraud, because no national identity cards...
...As such their participation in the elections has come to be viewed in Washington as the touchstone of Sandinista commitments to pluralism and democracy...
...Its armed militias fought in insurrection, then refused to disarm...
...CDN refuses...
...Presidential candidate: Clemente Guido...
...April 1984: Members of Supreme Electoral Council named...
...Each party to receive $600,000 in state funds...
...Godoy-who was labor minister until he resigned to devote himself to the campaign-and others claim that the Sandinistas were afraid to test their popularity fairly at the ballot box because they no longer have majority support...
...May 1984: Supreme Electoral Council announces election timetable...
...CDN objects...
...Bayardo Arce, a member of the Sandinista National Directorate, chortled with delight at this suggestion...
...Cruz should have run and used negotiations as the central plank in his campaign platform," said another...
...Led by workingclass hero Domingo Sanchez...
...All parties guaranteed access to media, right to organize public demonstrations...
...May 31, 1984: Government extends State of Emergency for another fifty days over furious CDN protests...
...attacking "communist dictators...
...Advocates greater worker control through cooperatives...
...Wants system of "workers' soviets...
...Sandinista leadership clearly resented the fact that international reaction to the elections was dependent on the participation of a group whose interests they believe are allied to the SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1984 "Voting is a duty...
...And it should make fraud equally difficult...
...nominations close end of June...
...After all, that's what happened in El Salvador," one official pointed out...
...campaign far too short and nominations close too early...
...Favors rapid radicalization, greater state role in economy, no political role for bourgeoisie...
...Split in June 1984 over participation in elections...
...February 21, 1984: FSLN announces election date: November 4, 1984...
...i Presidential candidate: Allan Zambrana (CAUS General Secretary...
...Allied to FSLN in Council of State until April 1984...
...Now led by Clemente Guido and other middleclass professionals, who are accused by Right of being pro-Sandinista...
...The Sandinistas have recovered a degree of sympathy among Western and Latin American govemments and they may well be able to convince world opinion that their elections are democratic and representative...
...February 8, 1984: Draft electoral law presented to Council of State...
...2. NICARAGUAN COMMUNIST PARTY (P deN): Split from P in 1970...
...3. Army allowed to vote, "counter to Latin American tradition...
...7. Independence of judiciary...
...1983: Throughout year, multi-party commission-which CDN members refuse to join-visits several European and Latin American countries and United States to study their constitutions and electoral laws...
...President, Vice-President and Constituent/Legislative Assembly to be elected...
...At the same time they are convinced that they retain overwhelming support...
...And they have access to the media-the major opposition newspaper, La Prensa, is edited by CDN leader Pedro Joaqufn Chamorro...
Vol. 18 • September 1984 • No. 5
