Political Overview

Since taking office in January 2007 following his election victory with 38 percent of the vote, President Daniel Ortega has taken steps to consolidate political power, relying in large measure on the alliance known as the Pacto between his Sandinista National Liberation Front (Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, FSLN) and the Liberal Constitutionalist Party (Partido Liberal Constitucionalista, PLC) of former President Arnoldo Alemán. As both political polarization and discontent with the Pacto have grown in Nicaragua, public confidence has diminished in government institutions dominated by the FSLN and the PLC.

With major constitutional reforms proposed by the FSLN expected to be debated over the coming year, municipal elections scheduled for November 2008 and January 2009 [#] have taken on special significance as a bellwether for Nicaraguan politics. Steps taken by electoral authorities to remove a prominent opposition leader as president of his party and to revoke the legal status of two opposition parties – one right-of-center with 150 years of existence, the second formed by Sandinista dissidents – at the same time have provoked strong criticism within Nicaragua that partisan interests are influencing electoral decisions and have reduced the range of political choices available to the Nicaraguan electorate.

Current Activities

NDI is working to strengthen Nicaragua’s democratic institutions by promoting substantive debate on political reform and the informed participation by civic groups, reform-minded legislators, political party leaders and the media in the upcoming municipal elections.

Domestic Election Observation

As the municipal elections approach, NDI is providing support to domestic observation groups Ethics and Transparency (Etica y Transparencia, ET) and the Institute for Development and Democracy (Instituto para el Desarrollo y la Democracia, IPADE) to verify the integrity of the process. NDI’s partners will collect quantitative and qualitative data on the voting and vote count processes in Nicaragua’s 153 municipalities and monitor electoral challenges.

NDI also assists 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. 

Media Programs

To enhance the capacity of the media to increase public awareness and access to information about the electoral process, NDI has joined efforts with The Carter Center to conduct workshops with Nicaraguan journalists. At these events, international and Nicaraguan specialists will share information on international standards for democratic elections and the role of the media in providing accurate and impartial coverage of electoral processes.

Political Party Programs

Building on these efforts to improve electoral conditions, in 2007 NDI engaged political parties in the legislature and provided systematic and comparative information on political, constitutional and electoral reform. Following the elections, NDI will continue to help facilitate dialogue between legislators and civic groups that have been active in promoting electoral reform. 

Past Programs

Since 1990, NDI has worked to strengthen democratic institutions and practices in Nicaragua. 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 ET, which was Nicaragua’s first nonpartisan domestic election observer organization. ET has since contributed to raising the standard of elections in the country.

During the 2001 elections, ET's quick count, which provided an independent verification of election results, proved instrumental to confirming the final results. NDI also trained nearly 450 master party trainers for the 2001 elections, who in turn trained thousands of party pollwatchers on such issues as election-day procedures, the legal role of party pollwatchers, codes of conduct and the importance of only filing legitimate challenges.

In 2004, NDI assisted ET to conduct a campaign finance monitoring program for the municipal elections to help increase transparency and public access to information.

To bolster the credibility of Nicaragua’s 2006 electoral process and encourage voter participation, NDI aided the advocacy and monitoring efforts of ET, IPADE and the Movement for Nicaragua (Movimiento por Nicaragua, MpN) to audit voter lists, survey the distribution of voter cards, and advocate for improvements in the national identity card application process. Deploying more than 11,000 volunteer observers during the presidential and legislative elections, ET conducted a quick count of the presidential race and monitored election challenges submitted by political party representatives. 

To promote transparent, inclusive and accountable practices within political parties, in 2007 the Institute engaged political party trainers in a series of multi-party workshops to promote an exchange on party modernization and reform. Also in 2007, NDI invited emerging Nicaraguan leaders from all political parties and alliances represented in the National Assembly to participate in the Institute’s Regional Political Leadership Program, which began with a leadership development seminar in Mexico. Following the seminar, NDI assisted with the implementation of party reform projects by six emerging political leaders on topics such as communications strategies and the strengthening of youth party structures.

Contact Information

For further information on NDI's programs in Nicaragua, please contact:

Washington, D.C.
Mario Mitre, Program Officer
Send email

Emily White, Senior Program Assistant
Send email

Updated August 2008

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[#] Elections will be held in 146 municipalities on November 9, 2008. Seven municipalities in the North Atlantic Autonomous Region will conduct elections on January 18, 2009.