- US President Joe Biden criticized the Nicaragua presidential election in a White House statement, calling it a “scam.”
- The current Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, imprisoned 39 opposition figures, putting any challengers on the brink.
- Ortega, 75, is by his side for the fourth consecutive five-year term-his fifth overall term-with 70-year-old Murillo.
WASHINGTON – US President Joe Biden slammed the Nicaragua presidential election on Sunday as a “scam” because the current President Daniel Ortega will surely win after putting the challenger aside.
In the White House statement on “Nicaragua’s false elections,” Biden said:
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo today orchestrated a pantomime election that is neither free nor fair, and certainly undemocratic.
Ortega’s regime “manipulated the results before election day” and imprisoned 39 opposition figures, including seven potential presidential challengers and “blocking parties” in recent months.
Biden also criticized Nicaraguan leaders for suppressing and “bullying” independent media, the private sector and civil society.
Biden said: “It has been unpopular for a long time, and now there is no democratic authorization. The Ortega and Murillo families now rule Nicaragua as dictators.”
“Restore Democracy”
On Sunday, Nicaraguans voted in an atmosphere of fear in this impoverished Central American country, which human rights groups called it.
After 11 hours of voting under the supervision of 30,000 police and soldiers, the polling station closed at 18:00 (00:00 GMT).
Ortega, 75, is expected to serve his fourth consecutive five-year term. This is his fifth term. His wife Murillo (70) will accompany him.
Biden called on Ortega to “take immediate steps to restore democracy” and release “those who have been unjustly imprisoned.”
The President added that the United States “will use all the diplomatic and economic tools we can use to support the people of Nicaragua and hold the Ortega-Murillo government and those who facilitate its abuse of power accountable.”
In the wave of arrests before Sunday’s vote, Washington and the European Union have imposed sanctions on Ortega’s family and allies.
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