Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Matagalpa (Agenzia Fides) – The news that renewal of electoral certificates could close on 31 December, is causing long lines in front of CSE, Supreme Electoral Council offices. General elections in Nicaragua are scheduled for 2016, but in this country a valid electoral certificates is the principal officially recognised identity paper, and every Nicaraguan must have one .
Bishop Rolando José Álvarez Lagos of Matagalpa diocese, says the issue is an “historic problem”: "The renewal should be free, and this could be achieved in view of the next elections. I think obstacles should not be put in the way of the democracy process. If someone desires to hamper the path to democracy, a good way is to require payment for certificates or complicate bureaucracy and render the electoral process more difficult". In a video sent to Fides LPTV Nicaragua, Bishop Álvarez Lagos said “in this present situation countless certificates have yet to be renewed and this could undermine elections”.
Bishop Jorge Solórzano Pérez, of Granada, and secretary general of the country’s Catholic Bishops Conference (CEN), affirmed: "our people lack the money even to eat: how can they pay the renewal of electoral certificates? Then there are the unemployed citizens! It is up to the Electoral Council to deal with this matter now!" (CE) (Agenzia Fides, 05/12/2014)
