Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Electoral Uncertainty Leads Way to Violence in Nicaragua

Strong doubts are now being cast on a number of the 146 municipal election tallies from yesterday, including key cities such as Managua and Leon. At the same time, low-scale violence is erupting across the country in delayed reactions to voting irregularities.

Reports from Managua on Monday afternoon indicated that FSLN sympathizers attacked the campaign headquarters of Eduardo Montealegre, the PLC candidate for mayor of Managua who had proclaimed himself the victor, despite most results showing him down by at least 5% to former boxer and FSLN candidate Alexis Arguello.

Similar reports came in from Rivas, where official tallies show the PLC mayoral candidate won by only hundreds of votes, though the results are in question. In Matagalpa, election-related conflicts left 16 arrested, 3 injured, and one person dead.
Official reports indicate that 91 of 146 elections were won by FSLN candidates, which (if the results don't change) amounts to a gain of 4 municipalities from the 87 held since 2004.

Sources: La Prensa, El Nuevo Diario, Bloomberg, AP

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

They need some "change" and "hope", that seems to work in the U.S