Shortly after the vote ended, the president USA, Joe Biden, Speaking out against the dictatorial regime in Nicaragua, said the vote was a “farce”: “neither free nor fair, and almost non-democratic,” he wrote.

“Since May, the unilateral arrests of about 40 opponents – including seven possible presidential candidates – have blocked the participation of political parties,” Biden said in a statement.

The United States is putting strong pressure on Nicaragua, especially after the Ortega regime tightened in 2018 – when Hundreds of people died in the crackdown on protests Against the government.

Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo – who is also the president’s wife – should be able to be re-elected without difficulty, Nicaraguan media predictions suggest. The result has not been officially confirmed until 22:00 (GMT) this Sunday.

The incumbent president is facing five unidentified candidates who are accused of collaborating with the government Seven pre-candidates are in possession In an attack that has brought dozens of politicians, businessmen, farmers, students and journalists to jail since May.

A survey by the Sid-Gallup Institute shows that 65% will vote against and 19% will vote for Ortega. But the pro-government M&R Institute says 70% will vote for the current president and 11.2% for anonymous candidates.

Opponents in prison or in exile

Christiana Chamorro, the daughter of former President Violeta Barrios (1990-1997), was the favorite to be elected. Home Jail.

Prisoners have been charged with violating Nicaragua’s laws under government-controlled law in 2020, attacking sovereignty on the basis of “betrayal of the motherland” or “money laundering”, as well as judicial and authoritarian elections.

For Ortega, the more than 150 detainees jailed since 2018 are not politicians, but Washington-sponsored “criminals” and “coupists.”

Remember the attack on a newspaper by the Nicaraguan police in the video below

More than one million Nicaraguans went into exile during the political crisis, mainly in the United States and Costa Rica.

Thus, the government of Ortega rejected the international observation of organizations such as the Organization of American States (OAS) and the European Union.

European diplomat Joseph Borel said on Tuesday that the election would not be legal because Ortega had arrested all other candidates.

“Mr. Ortega was careful to arrest all the political candidates who presented themselves in these elections. We cannot expect this process to have a legitimate outcome, but the opposite is true,” Borel declared.