National Assembly of Nicaragua approves new electoral reform

The Nicaraguan government expelled the OAS and its diplomats from the country 3:12 (CNN Spanish) — The official majority of the Nicaraguan National Assembly approved this Thursday a reform six months after the holding of municipal elections in the country, scheduled for November 6. The reform to Electoral Law 331 was approved with the favorable vote of 78 deputies of the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) and its allies, while 10 deputies voted against and three abstained. The Sandinista caucus presented the bill this Tuesday under the argument that the initiative will speed up and improve the functioning of the electoral councils in the departments and municipalities, providing greater transparency. The reform details the administrative and functional processes of the Vote Receiving Boards during the electoral process. The approved reforms cut the campaign period to 20 days for municipal elections and 30 days for national elections, when the term in the law was 42 and 72 days, respectively. The reform also increases from 400 to 600 the number of voters assigned to each of the Vote Receiving Boards. During the discussion, Deputy Lesther Flores, of the Liberal Constitutionalist Party (PLC) argued that the time allocated to the political campaign is not enough for the candidates to expose their government plans to the population of distant territories. This is how the war in Ukraine affected the sanctions against Nicaragua 2:31 Meanwhile, the Sandinista deputy Walmaro Gutierrez responded that there are parties that only approach the population during campaign times. For its part, the independent observatory Urnas Abiertas, through a statement published this Tuesday on its social networks, stated that “none of the nine proposed reforms suggests substantive changes to improve the transparency or general integrity of the electoral system, such as departidization of the intermediate instances of electoral administration, nor are they reforms that allow independent electoral observation”. The civic body reiterated that the country needs a credible, comprehensive and legitimate electoral process. “The conditions are to have said process, to recover fundamental freedoms, including that of political prisoners, the cessation of repression, the lifting of the police state, profound electoral reforms and national and international electoral observation, including the work of organizations of human rights”, expresses the Urnas Abiertas statement. The National Assembly approved a reform to the electoral law on May 5, 2021, despite the call of the international community, the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Nicaraguan opposition sectors that proposed a legal framework that would guarantee free, fair elections, transparent and observed.