MADRID (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th October, 2021) � The European Union considers introducing a package of sanctions against the inner circle of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega if the elections in this country do not meet democratic standards, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg.
At the meeting of EU Ministers of Foreign Affairs, which took place in Luxembourg on October 18, Spain offered to adopt a new package of measures in connection with the elections in Nicaragua to be held on November 7.
"We received broad support for our position to try to change the current state of affairs, which is leading us to a situation that we can define as election fraud. There are no minimum conditions for a democratic, free, transparent, competitive process," Albares said after the meeting on Monday.
The Spanish foreign minister added that the high-ranking representatives of the EU countries "considered various options" in order to "try to change the situation before November 7."
Among possible measures to sanction the regime in case the election is carried out without conditions for a democratic process, Spain offered to introduce sanctions against the inner circle of the Nicaraguan president, according to the head of the Spanish Foreign Ministry.
Since the beginning of June, several dozen opposition politicians and activists have been arrested in Nicaragua on various charges, including seven presidential candidates and the daughter of an ex-president of the country, Cristiana Chamorro. The presidential election in Nicaragua is scheduled for November 7. The ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front has confirmed longtime President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, as presidential candidates.
