Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Managua (Agenzia Fides) - The Catholic Church in Nicaragua insists on the presence of international and domestic election observers to legitimize the outcome of the presidential and legislative elections which are scheduled for November 2011, a source from the Church told local press.
The Auxiliary Bishop of Managua, Bishop Silvio Baez, said in a statement to local television channel 12 that “domestic and international observation is essential to legitimize the elections, otherwise the results will always be in doubt.”. The Bishop recommended to the Nicaraguans to have a “historic record” and take into account that the country will go to general elections with the same people “who were responsible for the scam of 2008,” referring to the fact that the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) is composed of the same people responsible for the election rallies in 2008. “I think that many sectors of the population will continue to insist on this issue (the monitoring of elections) and the Church in particular insists, because it is necessary that there be both domestic and international observation without any restriction,” said Bishop Baez.
The opposition in Nicaragua argues that in the municipal elections on 9 November, 2008, there was “massive fraud” in over 40 municipalities in the country and the elections that were held in 2008 in the autonomous regions of the southern and northern Caribbean were also challenged as fraudulent.
The statements of Bishop Baez are similar to the criticism that the opposition leaders have directed to CSE president Roberto Rivas, who said that next year there will not be monitoring for the elections, but only “electoral support”. According to the leader of the opposition, the decision by the CSE means “zero electoral observation” for next year, because the term “support” does not exist in electoral law, which is the constitutional provision, and to be able to put it in place would require an amendment to the Constitution.
The senior official said that the term “election support” has been used in elections held since 2004, and appears in letters sent to the Organisation of American States (OAS) and the European Union (EU), among others. However, Rivas said that the rules governing the issue of “election support” for the elections of 6 November 2011 will be approved and published in August of next year. Bishop Silvio Baez clarifies, however, that the members of the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua do not consider it their task to make political statements, but simply want respect for the law. (CE) (Agenzia Fides 20/12/2010)
