VZCZCXYZ0001
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHMU #0464/01 0611718
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 021718Z MAR 06
FM AMEMBASSY MANAGUA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5441
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 0558
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC

C O N F I D E N T I A L MANAGUA 000464 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CEN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/02/2016 
TAGS: KDEM NU PGOV PINR PREL KCOR
SUBJECT: A RUSE -- OR DO GENUINE CONCERNS DRIVE PLC'S CALL 
FOR CSE RESIGNATIONS? 
 
REF: A. MANAGUA 0430 
     ¶B. MANAGUA 0304 
     ¶C. 2005 MANAGUA 03118 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Paul A. Trivelli. Reasons 1.4 (B,D). 
 
¶1.  (C) Many Nicaraguan political and civil society leaders 
are calling for the resignation of all Supreme Electoral 
Commission (CSE) magistrates.  Asserting that the CSE's 
substantial irregularities and clear domination by Daniel 
Ortega's Sandinista (FSLN) party will cause the March 5 
Atlantic Coast election to be flawed, these leaders argue 
that the resignation of the CSE board is the only means to 
ensure a clean, fair, credible, and inclusive national 
election in November.  Visibly absent from this clamor is 
Liberal dissident Eduardo Montealegre, who suspects that the 
Liberal Constitutional Party's (PLC) call for the 
resignations may be PLC leader Arnoldo Aleman's ploy to 
regain political leverage.  The Nicaraguan government (GON) 
shares Montealegre's assessment, believing that in all 
likelihood a new CSE board would be as partisan and 
unprofessional as the current one; rather, the pressure 
should be directed at the current board to do its job.  The 
appointment of new CSE magistrates would require a vote by 
2/3 of the National Assembly deputies.  Both PLC and 
Sandinista votes would be needed for such a vote, a process 
that could reinforce the Ortega-Aleman pact, and perhaps lead 
to Aleman's amnesty.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (U) Many political and civil society leaders are calling 
for the resignation of all CSE magistrates.  Asserting that 
the CSE's substantial irregularities and clear domination by 
Daniel Ortega's Sandinista (FSLN) party will cause the March 
5 Atlantic Coast election to be flawed and fraud ridden, 
these leaders argue that the resignation of the magistrates 
is the only means to ensure a clean, fair, credible, and 
inclusive national election in November.  Right-of-center 
daily La Prensa called for the CSE leadership to step down in 
its February 28 edition. 
 
¶3.  (U) The PLC has been especially vocal on the subject, 
even though three of the seven magistrates are PLC militants. 
 PLC-affiliated CSE magistrate Rene Herrera (Ref. B) called 
over the February 25-26 weekend for the resignation of all 
CSE magistrates and their substitutes, to be effective 
following the March 5 Atlantic Coast elections.  He suggested 
that the only solution to the CSE crisis might be a state of 
emergency dissolving the CSE board.  Tongue in cheek, Herrera 
recommended that, to save the expense of a costly November 
election, the CSE could appoint Daniel Ortega president and 
Eduardo Montealegre vice president.  On February 25, PLC 
spokesman Leonel Teller echoed Herrera's sentiments, adding 
that the new magistrates should be selected via the National 
Dialogue mechanism established in October 2005 as part of the 
Framework Law (Ley Marco) to restore governability. 
 
¶4.  (C) Comment: Driving the PLC's outrage over the CSE's 
current state of play is the fact that the party no longer 
enjoys the upper hand in the electoral body.  The PLC is 
particularly capable of "crying foul" because in the past, it 
employed many of the same tactics to consolidate its 
political position.  Former PLC member Eduardo Urcuyo 
recently shared with us that the PLC used to back date birth 
certificates of young Nicaraguans so they could vote for the 
PLC, a practice they now accuse the Sandinistas of doing.  An 
unabashed Urcuyo explained that "we did this for the sake of 
democracy."  End Comment. 
 
¶5.  (U) Other political parties have joined the clamor for a 
complete makeover in CSE leadership, including Camino 
Cristiano National Assembly substitute deputy Oscar Carrion. 
FSLN dissident Herty Lewites has also called for the CSE 
magistrates to resign and stated publicly that he and his 
supporters will join a March 2 civil society protest calling 
for the magistrates to step down.  While the Alianza por la 
Republica (APRE) has not yet reached an official position on 
the matter, on February 28, APRE president Miguel Lopez 
Baldizon shared his personal view with polcouns that ideally 
all the magistrates should resign, but they will not.  He 
added the caveat that a mass resignation could place the 
electoral process in limbo and aggravate the crisis because 
the Assembly could take months to decide on replacements. 
While the ALN-PC has so far been reserved in its position, 
ALN-PC deputy Alfonso Ortega Urbina also hinted to the press 
that he would not oppose the measure if it served to improve 
the situation in Nicaragua. 
 
 
¶6.  (U) A number of civil society groups are also calling for 
the CSE magistrates to step down.  On February 23, Movimiento 
por Nicaragua (MpN) member/former CSE magistrate, Rosa Maria 
Zelaya opined that the CSE magistrates must resign if they 
are incapable of organizing elections.  On February 24, Etica 
y Transparencia (ET) director Roberto Courtney appealed to 
CSE magistrates to resign their posts following the March 5 
Atlantic Coast election because the CSE leadership has have 
lost all credibility.  A coalition comprising the Red por 
Nicaragua (NGO umbrella), COSEP, and Movimiento de Mujeres 
joined the chorus, with Red por Nicaragua and the MpN, 
announcing they will demonstrate in front of the CSE on March 
¶2. 
 
¶7.  (C) Although visibly absent from the clamor so far, 
Liberal dissident/ALN-PC presidential candidate Eduardo 
Montealegre -- who suspects that the PLC's call for all 
magistrates to resign may be part of PLC leader Arnoldo 
Aleman's ruse to restore some of his political leverage -- 
told DCM March 1 that he and his group favor continued 
pressure on the CSE, even though he doubted that any 
magistrates would in fact resign.  The resignation of the 
magistrates would prompt a vote by 2/3 (56 votes) of the 
National Assembly deputies to replace them, which would 
require both PLC and Sandinista votes to accomplish and could 
lead to a bolstering of the Ortega-Aleman pact, perhaps 
according Aleman the opportunity to swap more seats for the 
FSLN on the CSE for his amnesty. 
 
¶8.  (C)  ALN-PC legal adviser Eliseo Nunez alleged to the 
media on February 28 that to establish the CSE's required 
quorum, PLC magistrates resorted in 2001 to the same trick of 
appointing their own substitutes to fill in for recalcitrant 
Sandinista magistrates boycotting the sessions.  Referring to 
the PLC-led challenge to the Supreme Court ruling in favor of 
CSE president Rivas' appointment of Sandinista and 
Conservative substitutes to fill in for the absent PLC 
magistrates, Nunez asserted that the problem lies in the 
politicization of the CSE, not in the interpretation of an 
article (Ref. A) of the Electoral Law .  (Note: Montealegre 
and ALN-PC caucus leader Maria Eugenia Sequeira told us March 
1 that the ALN-PC will support the new bill, but on the 
condition that the PLC magistrates do their jobs.) 
 
¶9.  (C) President Bolanos' senior political adviser Frank 
Arana echoed Montealegre's position, telling polcouns on 
March 1 that Bolanos is skeptical of the PLC's insistence on 
replacing the CSE magistrates and suspects it is a ploy to 
renew the Ortega-Aleman pact to help the PLC regain political 
leverage vis a vis the Sandinistas to achieve Aleman's 
amnesty.  Arana voiced concern that civil society demands for 
a new CSE board could backfire and divert attention from real 
issues.  If the magistrates step down, which Arana doubts, a 
Sandinista-PLC accord would be required to select the new CSE 
board; they would likely select the same sort of conniving, 
partisan lot, opined Arana.  Instead, civil society should 
pressure the current magistrates to do their jobs. 
 
¶10.  (C) Predictably, the CSE's Sandinista magistrates and 
pro-Sandinista president Roberto Rivas have refused to 
resign, while daring their PLC counterparts to step down. 
FSLN Assembly caucus chair Edwin Castro dismissed the attacks 
on the CSE, asserting that if nobody protested the CSE in 
past national elections, they have no reason to do so now. 
He accused the PLC and its allies of creating the scandal 
because they are trying to justify their defeat in the 
Atlantic Coast election in advance.  Sandinista presidential 
candidate Daniel Ortega blames the U.S.G.'s "anti-democratic 
meddling" for driving the political and civil society 
movement calling for the resignation of the CSE board.  In a 
February 27 communique, Ortega warns that the U.S. and the 
Nicaraguan right will fail in their efforts to derail the 
March and November elections, asserting the Sandinistas will 
emerge as the victors in both contests.  (Comment:  Ortega's 
Left-Right rhetoric rings hollow, especially in light of 
Herty Lewites' new-Left, 
Sandinista-light candidacy -- and his seeking the 
Ambassador's assistance regarding the CSE's recent removal of 
a number of his candidates running for the Atlantic Coast 
election (while some Herty candidates rejoined Ortega, others 
did not).  End Comment.) 
 
Chief Civil Servant: "The CSE is a Giant Mess" 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶11.  (C) On February 28, CSE head civil servant Rodrigo 
Barreto (Ref. C) expressed his exasperation with the CSE 
magistrates' antics to poloff, calling the situation a "giant 
mess."  He agreed in principle with civil society groups 
calling on the magistrates to resign, but claimed that the 
selection of new magistrates would inevitably be "more of the 
same" - political hacks chosen by Aleman and Ortega.  Barreto 
noted that, legally, the magistrates cannot be forced out or 
impeached - not even by reason of insanity.  They must 
voluntarily resign.  Personally, Barreto is growing 
increasingly frustrated and would readily resign, along with 
several other senior staff, if he could afford to do so. 
 
Comment 
- - - - 
 
¶12.  (C) There are justifications for calling for the 
resignation of the CSE board, but the GON's and Montealegre's 
concerns over this PLC-led initiative are also valid.  One 
can argue that if all the magistrates were to resign -- for 
now highly unlikely -- civil society and political forces 
could pressure the Assembly to accept truly non-partisan, 
capable replacements who reflect the diversity of Nicaragua's 
political landscape.  Another possible outcome, however, is 
the Ortega-Aleman pact would  replace the CSE magistrates 
with more of the same, or a long drawn-out impasse would 
leave the CSE leaderless for months, endangering the November 
election.  President Bolanos has publicly stated that he will 
scrutinize the Atlantic Coast electoral process and the CSE's 
preparations for the November election, and if need be, he 
will declare a state of emergency in accordance with his 
legal authority to ensure that a fair and transparent 
election occurs as scheduled in November.  In our view, our 
job, and that of the OAS and the rest of the international 
community, is to encourage Nicaraguans to advocate for their 
rights and pressure the CSE to perform professionally and 
without partisan bias. 
TRIVELLI