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Public confidence in key political institutions has diminished in Nicaragua over recent years, particularly after allegations of irregularities marred the November 2008 municipal elections.
Political polarization has increased. Under the “Pacto” – a decade-old political agreement between President Daniel Ortega of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, FSLN) and former President Arnoldo Alemán of the Liberal Constitutionalist Party (Partido Liberal Constitucionalista, PLC) – electoral and judicial authorities were divided between the FSLN and the PLC on party lines. In addition, civil society organizations, journalists and government critics have denounced harassment for peaceful and legal activities.
In January 2010, in the absence of agreement by the qualified majority of the legislators required under the constitution to designate permanent replacements, President Ortega issued a presidential decree to extend the mandates of 25 officials whose terms expired, including Supreme Court of Justice (Corte Suprema de Justicia, CSJ ) and Supreme Electoral Council (Consejo Supremo Electoral, CSE ) magistrates. This measure enabled the continued functioning of these government institutions. However, government opponents consider the decree unconstitutional and have questioned the legitimacy of the CSJ and the CSE.
In 2008, election authorities refused to provide experienced domestic election observation groups credentials to observe the municipal elections and did not invite international observers. National election observation groups characterized these elections as the least transparent and most conflictive in Nicaragua in the past 12 years.
As the 2011 presidential elections approach, tensions have continued over the CSJ decision in October 2009 to permit President Ortega to stand for consecutive reelection, based on a controversial CSJ ruling which opposition parties denounced as a violation of the constitution. President Ortega was officially registered as the party’s presidential candidate in March 2011. Nicaraguan civic leaders have raised concerns that the institutional disputes are eroding the rule of law and that the CSE’s continued decision not to provide accreditation to international and domestic observers for the 2011 elections is contributing to the decline in public confidence in Nicaraguan democratic institutions and processes.
NDI Activities
NDI is working to strengthen Nicaragua’s democracy by promoting a new political leadership, training political parties in democratic practices and values, and dealing with inclusive and transparent electoral processes.
Toward that end, NDI program in Nicaragua is currently focused on:
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Working with a consortium of Nicaraguan universities and civil society organizations, along with an international university, to implement an annual leadership and political management training program for emerging political actors to build necessary skills and knowledge for fostering successful democratic political leadership, including democratic values, strategic planning, effective communication, political negotiation, and coalition building. In the first year of the program, the consortium trained nearly 400 emerging political party and civil society leaders from across the democratic spectrum.
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Engaging Nicaragua’s youth and women on best practices and strategies to strengthen political party responsiveness to citizen priorities and local issues through roundtable events and working sessions with political leadership at the municipal level. In November 2010, NDI launched the Win with Women initiative in Nicaragua to promote women’s participation in political parties.
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Supporting nonpartisan election monitoring activities by local civil society organizations to promote transparency and the integrity of the electoral process, monitor the national identification card distribution process and provide civic education on electoral reforms and the electoral process.
Past Programs
NDI has worked in Nicaragua to strengthen democratic institutions and practices since 1990. In 1993, NDI convened an unprecedented public forum on civil-military relations with Nicaragua’s key political and military leaders, which led to agreements to reform the country’s military legislation and create a civilian-led ministry of defense.
In 1996, NDI began providing technical assistance to Ethics and Transparency (Ética y Transparencia, ET), Nicaragua’s first nonpartisan domestic election observer organization. In 2006, NDI supported ET’s deployment of 12,000 Nicaraguan election observers for presidential and legislative elections and provided technical support to conduct a parallel vote tabulation or “quick count” which helped to verify the integrity of the electoral process.
Since 2005, NDI has worked to strengthen Nicaragua’s democratic institutions and processes by engaging emerging political leaders in Political Leadership workshops and working with civil society organizations to strengthen advocacy efforts to promote public awareness and debate about electoral reforms.
NDI has provided support to ET and the Institute for Development and Democracy (Instituto para el Desarrollo y la Democracia, IPADE) since 2005 to enhance the capacity of domestic election monitoring organizations to verify the integrity and transparency of the electoral process. In 2008, even without credentials to monitor the voting process from inside the polling stations, NDI’s partners collected information from outside polling stations in 146 municipalities regarding the administration of the election and the behavior of electoral actors. The Institute also assisted efforts by political parties to train their pollwatchers by sharing training materials and methodologies on topics such as the role, rights and responsibilities of pollwatchers in deterring irregularities.
Contact Information
For more information about these programs, use our contact form or contact:
Washington, D.C.
Jessica White, Senior Program Assistant
jwhite@ndi.org
Sara Barker, Senior Program Officer
sbarker@ndi.org
Nicaragua
Felix Ulloa, Resident Director
fulloa@ndi.org
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