Another Somoza eyes the presidency in Nicaragua

GlobalPost - ELMER MARTINEZ/AFP/Getty Images) MANAGUA, Nicaragua — Are Nicaraguans ready for another Somoza? The Somoza family ruled this poor Central American nation from 1936 to 1979, a period marked by widespread corruption and crackdowns on political ...  Read more

Daniel Ortega's New Kind of Coup

Project Syndicate - Carlos Fernando Chamorro. MANAGUA – Amid accusations of fraud and expressions of serious doubt by international observers, Daniel Ortega's re-election as Nicaragua's president constitutes a new kind of “incumbent's” coup – one that establishes a dangerous precedent for Latin America. What to do about it poses a grave dilemma for the Organization of American States (OAS).  Read more

Nicaragua's Opposition Asks The World Not To Recognize The Re-Election of Ortega

Inside Costa Rica

Inside Costa Rica - Daniel Ortega may have won the presidential elections in Nicaragua and may continue to be president for a third term, however, thousands took to the streets of Managua on Saturday to oppose his "fraudulent election", demanding and calling on the help ...  Read more Calls for new Nicaragua elections Sky News Australia all 12 news articles »

Nicaragua's President Rules Airwaves to Control Image

New York Times

New York Times MANAGUA, Nicaragua — The election this month in which President Daniel Ortega won a third term and a supermajority in Congress may have been marred by irregularities — the European Union's electoral mission called the vote tally ...  Read more

Controversy arises in Nicaraguan presidential elections

my.hsj.org - The 2011 Nicaraguan presidential elections sprouted much controversy on whether Daniel Ortega is a fraud or not. In retrospect, there are many keys that lead me to believe Ortega is hiding something about his re-election. Daniel Ortega is Nicaragua's ...  Read more

Trickery and victory in Nicaragua

MiamiHerald.com

BY CARLOS ALBERTO MONTANER - He won, because there is now a generation of young Nicaraguans to whom the civil war of the 1980s and the disasters provoked by the Sandinistas in that era of crime and collectivist passion seem remote and foreign. He won, because Ortega skillfully ...  Read more

Reality of corrupt Ortega bites Nicaragua

Boston Herald - Nicaragua may be the only country in the world that's perpetually under a full moon, so it's no surprise that the big news out of last Sunday's presidential election was not that incumbent Daniel Ortega was piling up suspicious ...  

In Nicaragua, fears that Ortega will be the new Somoza

MiamiHerald.com

MANAGUA, Nicaragua — Ghosts of tyrants and dictators past haunt Nicaragua, a land of volcanoes and political curses, and some say the nation hasn't broken its jinx.   Read more

Nicaragua's slip back to authoritarianism?

CNN (blog) -Under the Nicaraguan constitution, the legislature alone elects the Supreme Court justices and the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) justices, who are charged with organizing elections. But in January 2010 Ortega changed that. He issued a decree that allowed him to extend the terms of friendly judges. When Liberal judges protested and boycotted the Supreme Court, Ortega replaced seven of them. Without anyone to disbar him, he ran in November 2011 and won 63% of the vote.  Read more

The Rise of Ortega-ismo

www.foreignpolicy.com BY MALCOLM BEITH - Latin America's savviest left-wing firebrand shakes his fist with one hand while accepting donors' cash with the other -- and he's about to consolidate power even further in a bold stroke of undemocratic electioneering.  Read more

Ortega wins third term following questionable election

Catholic Online (www.catholic.org) - Opponents accuse Ortega was trying to establish one-man rule in Nicaragua.  International monitors responsible for reviewing Sunday's election have made reports detailing what they suspect is widespread election fraud. It is very likely that Ortega, or at least the members of his party, have organized some degree of election fraud to guarantee the outcome in his favor.  Read more

Nicaragua opposition candidate calls Ortega win 'fraud'

BBC - The opposition candidate in Sunday's presidential poll in Nicaragua has rejected the victory of the incumbent President, Daniel Ortega.  Read more

OAS makes bad “error” in Nicaragua

MiamiHerald.com - BY ANDRES OPPENHEIMER - What was most surprising about Nicaragua’s election on Sunday was not that President Daniel Ortega was reelected after a highly questionable electoral process, but that his victory got a seemingly unconditional blessing from 34-country Organization of American States chief Jose Miguel Insulza..  Read more

Nicaragua's President Ortega: No Plans For Changes In Administration

Huffington Post 11/ 8/11 11:02 PM ET AP MANAGUA, Nicaragua -- Newly re-elected President Daniel Ortega said Tuesday there won't be any dramatic changes in his new administration and that he will continue taking Nicaragua on a path that is "Christian, socialist and in ...  Read more

Ortega loses! (Wait a second…)

By Margaret McCarthy  This headline should make you look twice for two reasons. The first, of course, being that President Ortega did not actually lose the Nicaraguan elections last Sunday. He won his third term as president by a landslide, according to the numbers posted on La Prensa.

The second reason this headline is ridiculous is that the kind of credibility which a leader who is elected in Ortega’s fashion should lose has not been lost. In October 2009, a Corte Suprema ruling—by the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) dominated court—decreed that the constitutional limitations restricting an individual to two terms as president, as well as outlawing consecutive presidential terms, was unconstitutional. (Subsequently, Ortega ignored the legislature’s outcry that the supreme court did not have the authority to overturn such a provision, and in a related ruling in January 2010, Ortega extended some of the FSLN judges’ terms on the court, which effectively stacked the court in his favor). Ortega was elected Sunday for his third term, and will hold this post consecutive to his second.  Read more

Nicaragua pres Ortega with big early lead in vote

(AP) -- President and one-time Sandinista revolutionary Daniel Ortega is headed for a mandate to stay in office in Nicaragua, overcoming a constitutional limit on re-election and reports of voting problems.

Ortega had 64 percent of the votes in a count early Monday, compared with 29 percent for his nearest challenger, Fabio Gadea. Conservative Arnoldo Aleman, a former president, was a distant...  Read more

Early count: Nicaragua pres Ortega winning big

Newsday

Early count: Nicaragua pres Ortega winning big Newsday (subscription) Click here Early count: Nicaragua pres Ortega winning big Originally published: November 6, 2011 10:21 PM Updated: November 7, 2011 12:14 AM By The Associated Press (AP) -- Election officials say president and former Sandinista revolutionary Daniel ... Read more

Nicaraguans Vote as Ortega's Rebel Past Fades for Business

BusinessWeek - 6 (Bloomberg) -- Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega will probably win a second consecutive term in elections today as the former socialist guerrilla benefits from business-backed economic growth. The 65-year-old leader of the Sandinista National ...   Read more

Nicaragua pres Ortega, former Sandinista rebel, poised to defy constitution with third term

Washington Post - MANAGUA, Nicaragua — Nicaraguan president and one-time Sandinista revolutionary Daniel Ortega appears headed for victory Sunday in an election that his critics say could be the prelude to a presidency-for-life. Since returning to power in 2007, ...  Read more

Nicaragua's election day arrives amid tension, violence

Monsters and Critics.com  Managua - Nicaraguans prepared to vote Sunday, as protests over alleged mismanagement of the election erupted into violence, even before polls had opened.  Local media reported that supporters of the opposition alliance PLI-UNE, who hope to unseat President Daniel Ortega in the vote, fought with Ortega sympathizers Saturday in at least three municipalities in the northern provinces of Matagalpa and Nuevo Segovia.  Read more