By Stephen Marks
MANAGUA — Thousands of Sandinistas converged on the tomb of Carlos Fonseca, the founder of the FSLN, on November 8, and transformed the anniversary of his death into a protest against the electoral fraud.
Sandinista Front (FSLN) presidential candidate Daniel Ortega announced at the rally that as a result of the massive irregularities that occurred during Nicaragua's recent elections, the party was formally demanding that new elections be held in Managua and Matagalpa. These regions, the two most populous departments in the country, experienced the greatest fraud.
In Matagalpa an arrest warrant has been issued for the president of the Departmental Electoral Council, a prominent member of the Liberal Alliance. The FSLN has also called for a recount in another 13 departments.
Ortega said that it was the duty of revolutionaries to educate the new generation in the importance of civic struggle. The FSLN had once before struggled against a corrupt electoral system. The Somoza dictatorship used to have its rotten elections which were also "legitimised" by constitutions, laws and its version of a Supreme Electoral Council.
The CSE has certainly tried its best to legitimise the apparent victory of the AL's Arnoldo Alemán. When, with over half the vote counted, Alemán led by 9%, the CSE, supported by the right wing, claimed that it was mathematically impossible for this trend to change. At the time, the FSLN's demand for a recount had opened the possibility Alemán's vote could fall below 45%. This would have meant that a second round run-off was necessary.
The CSE repeatedly delayed announcement of the provisional results due to the anomalies in Managua and Matagalpa. When they were finally announced on November 8, they showed that the early trend had in fact not been maintained and that, supposedly, Alemán's vote had risen to 51%. These extra votes signified that Alemán's average vote per polling booth had jumped from 93 to 130 votes. Conversely, Ortega, originally running at around 40%, dropped to less than 38%. What was previously declared to be a mathematical impossibility, was now passed off as perfectly normal.
These extra votes not only gave Alemán a formal majority, but also gave AL candidates an important edge in the election of parliamentary seats and local councils. The provisional results also edged Carlos Guadamuz, the Sandinista candidate for mayor of Managua, into third place, thus denying him a councillor's position.
The provisional results have also been challenged in various areas by parties such as the Independent Liberals, Liberal Unity, Bread and Force and the Communists. Nonetheless, "observers" from agencies such as the Organisation of American States, the Jimmy Carter Foundation and the United States Republican Party have tried to legitimise Alemán's victory. A similar role has been played by outgoing president Violeta Chamorro and the Catholic Church's Cardinal Obando y Bravo.
Ortega attacked the cardinal for violating electoral ethics. During the three-day reflection period which is supposed to follow the end of public campaigning, Obando y Bravo bestowed a blessing on Alemán, made televised references to the FSLN as "snakes", and on election day, for the benefit of those who had not yet voted, dropped one of his ballot papers, marked in favour of the Liberal Alliance, in full view of the media.
It is hard to believe that the CSE will reverse its previous attitudes and grant new elections in Managua and Matagalpa, as new elections in these regions would reopen the possibility of a second round and call into question the right-wing victory.