MANAGUA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd November, 2021) Nicaragua's opposition politicians and presidential candidates have told Sputnik that they approve the presence of foreign observers during the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections.
In May, the country's parliament voted to designate election observers as "companions" instead of the more traditional term that is used by the Organization of American States (OAS), whose impartiality has been questioned in the wake of the 2019 coup in Bolivia that started from an OAS statement on electoral violations. OAS experts have not been invited to monitor the Nicaraguan elections.
"We evaluate positively the role of companions, while at the same time the best observer, companion and guarantor is every Nicaraguan who participates in the electoral process," Miguel Rosales from the Liberal Constitutionalist Party said.
Gerson Gasparin, a presidential candidate from the Alliance for the Republic, said that the presence of observers is a stabilizing factor. Meanwhile, his rival from the Independent Liberal Party, Mauricio Orue, thinks that OAS has to be involved while admitting that its policy is influenced by national governments.
"If they adopt a certain position and become biased, they lose objectivity and the reason for their creation. There has to be balanced, we have to alert the OAS so that they reconsider their attitudes," Orue said.
The presidential election in Nicaragua is scheduled for this Sunday, with over ten political parties fielding their candidates. The ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front has confirmed longtime President Ortega and his wife, Vice President Murillo, as their candidate and running mate, respectively.
