Nicaragua News Service Published by the Nicaragua Network Education Fund Vol. 4, No. 42 October 20-26, 1996 by Lisa Zimmerman MAJOR NEWS STORIES OF THE WEEK: 1. Elections marred by administrative errors and fraud. 2. International observers declare elections 'free and fair'. 3. CSE agrees to review vote tallies. 4. Aleman claims victory and prepares to take office. __________________________________________________________ 1. Elections marred by administrative errors and fraud. Delays and general disorganization on the part of the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) affected polling places throughout the country during the October 20 elections. Hundreds of polling places opened hours late, due to the fact that the election materials, or in some cases the local CSE workers themselves, had not arrived as scheduled. CSE president Rosa Marina Zelaya announced that, according to the Electoral Law, all polling places must remain open a total of eleven hours, meaning that some polls did not close until 11:00p.m. Numerous administrative problems also plagued the electoral process. Many polling places did not receive a sufficient number of ballots or other electoral materials. In the poll located in the Bertha Diaz High School in Managua, for example, 60 out of 386 people were not able to vote due to a shortage of ballots. Polling places in Rivas, Jalapa, El Jicaral, and Ocotal were forced to close early for the same reason. Several polling places located in municipalities of Rama reported that they did not receive a copy of the electoral register. Still other polling places in the capital suffered power outages, leaving the CSE workers and poll watchers to count the ballots by candlelight. (Barricada, La Tribuna, October 21) The following day, chaos broke out in front of the Departmental Electoral Council headquarters in Managua when 6000 CSE workers and poll watchers attempted to turn in the ballots, vote tallies, and receive their pay for the weekend. Upset by rumors that the CSE lacked the funds to pay them, the election workers began a spontaneous protest, which was immediately subdued by the anti-riot squad of the National Police. Several persons were injured in the brawl that ensued, and observers reported that numerous bags of ballots were ripped open leaving the ballots scattered in the street. (Barricada, El Nuevo Diario, October 22) Despite the numerous anomalies reported, the CSE began to report the preliminary results of the elections at 2am on October 21, and proceeded to give updates every several hours. By October 23, the CSE had tallied the votes from 87.5% of the polling places, and reported that Arnoldo Aleman was in the lead for the presidency with 49.34%, followed by Daniel Ortega with 38.09%. However, in the afternoon of October 21, Ortega held a press conference in which he informed reporters that the FSLN would not recognize the preliminary results of the CSE until a review of the vote tallies was carried out. Ortega declared that the numbers that were sent to the Computation Center in Managua by telegram did not correspond to the actual vote tallies that had been signed by poll watchers, and that the FSLN's parallel count of 300,000 votes revealed that 60,000 votes (3%) were missing. He stated, "It is important to point out that we are not questioning the authority of the CSE, but we have found serious irregularities, and telegrams that had been altered that do not really reflect the number of votes that the FSLN won." Presidential candidate of the Nicaraguan Christian Path (Camino Cristiano Nicaraguense, CCN) Guillermo Osorno, who currently holds third place with 4.17% of the vote, has declared the elections "fraudulent" and has demanded that the results be annulled. The day after the elections he told the press, "these elections should never be accepted, regardless of who wins, because of the irresponsible manner in which the CSE proceeded." CCN poll watchers in Matagalpa claim that votes were taken away from Osorno and given to Aleman. In Bluefields, sixty-two CCN members were said to have voted at one polling place, but the tally reflects that Osorno received only one vote. In Matagalpa, fourteen political parties (excluding the Liberal Alliance) petitioned the CSE to annul the electoral results from this department. A document submitted by the parties to the CSE accuses the president of the Departmental Electoral Council Alberto Blandon Baldizon, a member of the Liberal Alliance, of undersupplying those polling places where he was not certain of a Liberal victory, and other violations of the Electoral Law. On October 23, Blandon was arrested after he was discovered hiding 28,300 ballots in his office and in a warehouse owned by his children. (Barricada, El Nuevo Diario, October 22; Barricada, October 24). Eight political parties held a press conference on October 22 to support the call for a review of the vote tallies. Participants included the presidential candidates of Pan y Fuerza, UNO-96, Liberal Independent Party (PLI), Nicaraguan Conservative Party (PCN), Nicaraguan Socialist Party (PSN), Communist Party of Nicaragua (PC de N), National Justice Party (PJN), the Renovation Action Movement (MAR), and the Party of Nicaraguan Workers, Peasants, and Professionals (PUNOCP). The parties demanded the suspension of the reporting of the preliminary results until the final vote tallies are reviewed. (Barricada, El Nuevo Diario, October 23) As the week wore on, more and more evidence of fraud carried out by the Liberal Alliance had been uncovered. Caches of discarded ballots and voter identification documents were found throughout Managua and surrounding communities. In San Rafael del Sur, more than 100 ballots that had been cast for the FSLN for president and mayor, as well as several final vote tallies, were found in the municipal garbage dump. FSLN poll watchers in Masaya, Rivas, and Jinotega claimed that several polling places registered over 500 votes cast, although the Electoral Law states that no more than 400 voters were allowed at each polling place. Numerous mathematical errors in the final vote tallies, which almost invariably favored the Liberal Alliance, were also discovered. In the municipality of Jinotega, for example, one polling place reports a total of 230 ballots cast, while registering 1,085 votes for the Liberal Alliance. In a communique released on October 22, ENITEL (Nicaraguan Communications Enterprise) workers stated that they received a high percentage of telegrams that had been visibly revised, and that they had been instructed by CSE officials to turn them in just as they had arrived. (Barricada, October 23) El Nuevo Diario reported that Miguel Angel Canda, member of Aleman's Liberal Constitutionalist Party (PLC), one of the parties making up the Liberal Alliance, said that he was given instructions two weeks before the elections to change numbers on vote counts where it appeared the Alliance was losing. A CSE representative for District Six of Managua gave orders that no observers were to be allowed to accompany the presidents of the polling places into the telecommunications office from which telegrams reporting voting totals were sent to the main computing center. He said that he was the only one among the 38 presidents of polling places in District Six who did not change the numbers. He did not speak up earlier, he said, because he thought this was an isolated incident. But when more accusations of fraud began to accumulate, he decided to come forward. (El Nuevo Diario, October 23) 2. International observers declare elections 'free and fair'. A number of top-level international electoral observers certified Nicaragua's elections as "transparent and fair" before the CSE had reported the results of 75% of the polling places. Only one day after Nicaraguans went to the polls, Secretary General of the OAS Cesar Gaviria announced, "the results of the elections are legitimate and we ask that they be recognized by all political parties." Former President of Costa Rica Oscar Arias directly condemned the challenge of the results mounted by the FSLN and other political parties, stating, "It seems lamentable to me that this civic demonstration could be stained by suspicions of fraud. What we saw on Sunday was the people saying no to the past, violence, and war and showing that from now on presidents will be chosen at the ballot boxes." The president of the International Republican Institute (IRI) Lorne Craner also discarded the possibility of fraud, telling reporters, "I don't know why they're questioning these numbers, there's no reason...simply that some people did not get as many votes as they expected and are now yelling 'fraud'." (La Tribuna, October 22, 23) Former US President Jimmy Carter, although labeling the elections "free and fair," asserted that political parties have a right to demand a review of the final vote tallies according to the Electoral Law. He argued, "the parties are not asking for the results to be annulled, but are concerned about the numbers that were transmitted by telegram." Representatives from the Socialist International delegation, as well as from the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) also recognized the parties' right to receive copies of the telegrams and final vote tallies. (El Nuevo Diario, Barricada, October 23) In spite of Carter's statements, US Ambassador John Maisto visited Arnoldo Aleman this week to congratulate him on his electoral victory. "The position of the US government," he stated, "is that we are waiting for the (final) results of the CSE, but at the same time, the numbers speak for themselves in elections in democratic countries." Aleman also received congratulatory messages from the other four Central American presidents. (La Tribuna, October 24) Other international observation delegations, however, did report witnessing severe anomalies in the electoral process. The Women's Observation Mission to the Elections in Nicaragua (WOMEN), comprised of feminist and human rights activists from throughout the world, issued a statement documenting a series of irregularities in the electoral process, including a number of individuals who did not appear on the electoral register but were allowed to vote with only a "special letter" from the CSE. An independent delegation from Spain also reported various anomalies, such as the fact that poll watchers were not allowed to be present when the telegrams were being sent and that the ballots were often left unprotected. (Barricada, October 23; El Nuevo Diario, October 25) 3. CSE agrees to review vote tallies. On Wednesday, October 23, the CSE announced that it would suspend the announcement of the preliminary electoral results and ordered each Departmental Electoral Council (CED) to begin a review of the final vote tallies that were signed by the poll watchers. CSE president Rosa Marina Zelaya explained that, according to the Electoral Law, the CED's and party poll watchers have five days to carry out this review, after which the CSE will tally and announce the results, which will still be considered provisional. After this announcement is made, political parties have three days to challenge the provisional results. The CSE then has five days to respond to these challenges and announce the final results. The first provisional results are scheduled to be announced on October 30. (Barricada, El Nuevo Diario, October 24) This review process began on October 24 as scheduled, but has faced serious obstacles in the department of Managua. According to poll watchers from the FSLN, PLI, PC de N, Pan y Fuerza, PRONAL, PSN, ANC, and UNO-96, Cesar Membreno, the CED-Managua president and Liberal Alliance member, has impeded them from comparing the final vote tallies to the telegrams that were sent the night of October 20. They also accuse Membreno of adding up the final vote tallies without taking into consideration anomalies reported in the vote count. Poll watchers claim that there are serious irregularities in approximately 85% of the vote tallies or telegrams submitted by Managua's 2,267 polling places. The electoral review process was completed Saturday, October 26 in the departments of Leon and Esteli. The CED of Leon reported that anomalies were detected in 40% of the telegrams sent to the Computation Center in Managua. After the review process, the CED announced that the Liberal Alliance has won the mayoralties of Nagarote and Santa Rosa del Penon, which were originally declared to be FSLN victories, but that the FSLN kept control of eight other municipalities. In Esteli, the CED confirmed that the FSLN received the majority of votes for the presidency, and won the mayoralties of the municipality of Esteli, Condega, and Pueblo Nuevo. (Barricada, El Nuevo Diario, October 26, 27) 4. Aleman claims victory and prepares to take office. At 10:30p.m. on October 20, hours before the CSE began to release its preliminary results, Arnoldo Aleman's campaign chief, Jaime Morales Carazo declared a Liberal Alliance victory based on "extraofficial estimates." The self-proclaimed president-elect proceeded to give acceptance speeches, in which he outlined his plans for the new government, including a complete restructuring of the judicial system in which all current judges will be asked to resign. Aleman also announced the formation of a "transition committee" and named Jaime Cuadra as the Minister of Defense and Francisco Lainez as the Minister of the Economy. He also confirmed that he would keep Humberto Belli as the Minister of Education. Aleman virtually ignored the fact that the electoral results are under review, and criticized the CSE for the delay in recognizing the results. The Superior Council of Private Enterprise (COSEP) and American-Nicaraguan Chamber of Commerce (ANCHAM) also petitioned the CSE to declare Aleman the winner of the elections, arguing that the delay could threaten private investment. (La Tribuna, October 21; La Prensa, October 24, 25, 26, 27)