US characterizes municipal elections in Nicaragua as “fantasy”.

Brian Nichols, the US State Department’s top official for Latin America, described this Friday’s (4) municipal elections as “another farce”. Nicaragua Sunday (6). “On Sunday, Nicaraguans will once again be denied the right to freely and fairly elect their municipal leaders,” said the Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs.

In a message sent to reporters by the press office of the US Embassy in Nicaragua, Nichols argued, “As long as opposition leaders are unjustly imprisoned or exiled and their parties banned, the people of Nicaragua have no choice but to imagine another election.” “.

A year ago, US President Joe Biden called it a “pantomime”. Dictator Daniel Ortega was re-elected in general elections, is considered illegal by the majority of the international community. At the time, seven of its main candidates were in jail and two were in exile.

The ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), led by Ortega, currently governs 141 of the 153 provinces, wants to win every municipality in Nicaragua due to the outlawing of three opposition parties and the arrest of their key leaders. . Excluded from the polls, opposition parties are asking people to abstain as a form of protest.

A total of 117 Sandinista mayors from Nicaragua’s 141 governing municipalities are up for re-election on Sunday, including Reina Rueda of the capital Managua. The city has been administered by the FSLN since 2001.

In total, 3,722,884 Nicaraguans over the age of 16 (minimum voting age) were invited to vote to elect mayors, vice mayors and councilors, according to the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE).