Ortega seeks FSLN's seventh consecutive presidential nomination
To no one's surprise, the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) has nominated Daniel Ortega as its presidential candidate for November's election. Ortega is seeking his third straight term as president, a few more than he was allowed before some irregular constitutional interpretations found term limits to be a violation of his human rights.
Perhaps what is worse than seeking his third straight term is that he will be the FSLN's presidential candidate for the seventh consecutive time. He first ran for the presidency at the same time that Ronald Reagan was running for re-election in the United States. For a movement and a party that had so much potential to transform Nicaragua, it's got to be one of the more depressing failures of even those who still support Ortega and the FSLN.
In the past few elections, there have been irregularities in the voting. That has caused some conflict between Ortega and those international observers there to monitor the elections. Ortega will try to avoid that issue in 2016 by not extending invitations to international observers because they are a form of intervention. At some point, the use of international observers has to stop anyway (twenty-five-plus years after the end of the country's civil war) but one would have hoped that democracy would have been more firmly in place by now.
Some economic and social progress, low violent crime, an unenthusiastic opposition, and Ortega-dominance of public and private institutions and several media outlets mean we are just waiting to see how much Ortega wins by in November.
Perhaps what is worse than seeking his third straight term is that he will be the FSLN's presidential candidate for the seventh consecutive time. He first ran for the presidency at the same time that Ronald Reagan was running for re-election in the United States. For a movement and a party that had so much potential to transform Nicaragua, it's got to be one of the more depressing failures of even those who still support Ortega and the FSLN.
In the past few elections, there have been irregularities in the voting. That has caused some conflict between Ortega and those international observers there to monitor the elections. Ortega will try to avoid that issue in 2016 by not extending invitations to international observers because they are a form of intervention. At some point, the use of international observers has to stop anyway (twenty-five-plus years after the end of the country's civil war) but one would have hoped that democracy would have been more firmly in place by now.
Some economic and social progress, low violent crime, an unenthusiastic opposition, and Ortega-dominance of public and private institutions and several media outlets mean we are just waiting to see how much Ortega wins by in November.
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