By Ronald J. Morgan
A 2000 political pact between Daniel Ortega and then President Arnoldo Aleman paved the way for impunity and back room deals. The pact made the Sandinistas and the Independent Liberal Party the dominant political forces in the country. 1,2
A 2011 Supreme Court decision allowing indefinite reelection and a 2014 constitutional reforms are being blamed for what is now evolving into an increasingly authoritarian one party dominant political system.
Election fraud was alleged in the 2008 municipal elections and 2011 presidential elections.The United States cut off funding from the New Millenium Account assistance fund to show its displeasure with the 2008 vote.
The constitutional reform of 2014, allows indefinite reelection, certain presidential decrees with the force of law and the removal of the 35% minimum vote requirement to be president. It also extends the right of military officers to run for political office
The 2016 election was thrown into a one-sided event by an Electoral Supreme Court decision last July. The court ruled to unseat the opposition congressman Eduardo Montealegre as head of the Independent Liberal Party and its ally the Sandinista Renovation Movement. The decision stemmed from its resolution of a dispute over the rightful leader of the Independent Liberal Party. The dispute had been raging for a while.3
The Court replaced Montealegre with Pedro Reyes. And when some Liberal Independent Party deputies refused to recognize Reyes the court ordered them removed from congress. Reyes was to be allowed to appoint replacements. Then in August, the court banned the Independent Liberal Party from running for president.
Another opposition party, the The National Coalition for Democracy, whose expected candidate was Luis Callejas, pulled out of the Nov. 6 vote calling the election a farce.
SOURCES:
1.Of politics and democracy in Nicaragua in the XXIst century http://archive.thedialogue.org/PublicationFiles/Politics%20and%20democracy%20in%20Nicaragua.pdf
2.Strange Bedfellows: The Aleman-Ortega Pact https://nacla.org/article/strange-bedfellows-aleman-ortega-pact
3.Nicaragua Electoral Authority Unseats Opposition Lawmakers http://www.apnewsarchive.com/2016/Nicaragua_electoral_authority_unseats_opposition_lawmakers/id-5c680c2b50d24116b19aebe514367072
Roads to Resistance 