Ortega and Murillo take over all mayoralties in Nicaragua

The dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo won all the mayoralties of Nicaragua's 153 municipalities, according to a first report from the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE). On Sunday, November 6, a questioned Municipal voting took place, which did not include opposition parties and there was scarce citizen participation.

With this result, the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) has 100% of the Nicaraguan communes under it’s power. 

Some 3.7 million Nicaraguans were summoned to these elections, in which only the Sandinista Front and the following political groups collaborating with the Ortega dictatorship participated: Constitutionalist Liberal Party (PLC), Alliance for the Republic (APRE), Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance (ALN), Independent Liberal Party (PLI Alliance) and Yapti Tasba Masraka Nanih Asla Takanka (Yatama).

These are the first municipal votes since the socio-political landscape in Nicaragua changed, following the brutal repression and massacre against the citizen protests of the April Rebellion of 2018. The Orteguista regime has imposed a de facto police state, with more than 200 political prisoners, and has canceled the legal status of three opposition parties.

In these municipal votes, the FSLN already had control of 141 mayoralties distributed in 15 departments and the two autonomous regions on the Caribbean Coast. Of these, 135 mayoralties were assigned by the CSE in 2017 and another six mayoralties were usurped in October 2020 and July 2022.

In these ballots, the Sandinista Front was awarded the mayoralties that were in the hands of collaborationist parties such as the Constitutionalist Liberal (PLC) and Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance (ALN). The only opposition party, Ciudadanos por la Libertad (CxL), was annulled in 2021.

The new FSLN mayoralties are: 

1. Camoapa
2. San José de los Remates
3. Santo Domingo
4. La Trinidad
5. Antigua City
6. Bocana de Paiwas
7. El Tortuguero
8. Los Bueyes Pier
9. La Cruz de Río Grande
10. Mulukukú
11. Wiwilí
12. San Francisco de Cuapa

The Sandinista Front recycled 118 mayoral candidates out of the 141 mayorships it controls in Nicaragua, according to a data analysis made by CONFIDENCIAL. Of these, 101 mayors will continue in office for another consecutive term.

The citizen observatory Urnas Abiertas indicated that during these #Municipal2022 votes an abstentionism of 82.7% was registered. This abstention level exceeds that observed in the “electoral farce” of 2021, which was 81.5%.

This article was originally published in Spanish in Confidencial and translated by our staff.