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PP RUEHLMC
DE RUEHMU #2537/01 3212142
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 172142Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY MANAGUA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8231
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORP WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MANAGUA 002537 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/CEN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/17/2016 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR KDEM NU
SUBJECT: SIT REP 7 - NICARAGUAN ELECTIONS 
 
REF: MANAGUA 2531 AND PREVIOUS 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Paul Trivelli for reasons 1.4 (b and d) 
 
¶1. (U) Summary: With the deadline to submit formal complaints 
regarding the vote count fast approaching at midnight on 
November 17, the political parties are rushing to check the 
official numbers against the results provided by their poll 
watchers -- a task made especially arduous because the 
Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) has refused to provide 
parties or observers with an electronic version of the 
results.  The CSE has already admitted to major counting 
errors in Masaya.  Movimiento por Nicaragua (MpN) criticized 
the slow pace of the CSE's release of results, and called on 
the Council to respect the will of the people when allocating 
National Assembly seats.  Liberal Constitutional Party (PLC) 
Presidential candidate Jose Rizo has publicly blamed the 
PLC-Sandinista Liberation Front (FSLN) pact for the FSLN's 
victory and called for a full reorganization of the PLC 
leadership structure, including the withdrawal of Arnoldo 
Aleman from political life.  End Summary. 
 
CSE Refuses to Share Actas 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶2. (SBU) The CSE released the final provisional results to 
the media on November 15 (reftel), giving the parties until 
midnight on November 17 to register any formal complaints 
regarding vote tallies.  The parties are comparing their 
results (actas) with the official CSE results, but are 
inhibited by the CSE's refusal to release the final results 
electronically.  The CSE previously released a DVD with over 
60 percent of the actas and posted over 91 percent of the 
actas on its web site for only about one day before removing 
them. 
 
¶3. (C) The parties have alerted local and international 
observer groups of the CSE's unwillingness to share the final 
data with them. (Comment: The CSE has also refused to release 
the actas to observer groups.  CSE chief of staff Rodrigo 
Barreto told poloff that the CSE will not provide the DVDs 
because party poll watchers are using copies of CSE-provided 
actas to file complaints instead of their own original 
copies, which they must submit according to CSE regulations. 
End Comment.) 
 
CSE Admits Mistakes in Masaya 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶4. (U) Following an ALN press conference revealing major 
inconsistencies in the departmental deputy vote count in 
Masaya (reftel), the CSE released a statement admitting the 
errors.  Masaya Departmental Electoral Council (CED) 
president Thelma Espinosa explained that the results of 
certain municipalities had been omitted from the CED's 
official tally.  The corrected count added thousands of votes 
to the totals for the ALN, FSLN and PLC, but do not appear to 
change the outcome of the allotment of deputy seats for 
Masaya.  (Comment: ALN chief poll watcher Carlos Garcia 
informed polcouns that the final results will probably not 
alter the outcome for the ALN.  End Comment.) 
 
MpN Criticizes Slow Pace of Results 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶5. (U) The Movimiento por Nicaragua (MpN) released a 
statement on November 16 criticizing the CSE for the slow 
publication of vote results and the delay in defining the 
distribution of National Assembly seats.  MpN publicly 
wondered why the CSE took eight days to release the final 
eight percent of results after counting 92 percent in the 
first three days.  MpN encouraged the political parties to 
issue formal complaints regarding inaccurate or manipulated 
results and urged the CSE to "respect the will of the people" 
when deciding the final distribution of National Assembly 
seats. 
 
¶6. (SBU) MpN also urged the new deputies-elect to appoint 
qualified candidates for the Supreme Court and National 
Prosecutor's office (Fiscalia).  (Comment: Emboffs have been 
working with civil society groups to pressure the National 
Assembly to select qualified candidates for the governmental 
institutions subject to Assembly appointments.  Civil society 
pressure resulted in the current Assembly's postponing the 
selection of new justices and Fiscalia officials until the 
newly-elected representatives can make the decision next 
year.  End Comment.) 
 
MANAGUA 00002537  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
Rizo Calls for Aleman's Resignation 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶7. (U) The internal PLC power struggles heated up on November 
16 when PLC Presidential candidate Jose Rizo called for PLC 
leader Arnoldo Aleman's withdrawal from the party.  Rizo 
blamed Aleman for the FSLN victory, stating that the PLC 
should never have agreed to lower the threshold for a first 
round victory from 45 percent to 35 percent.  He claimed that 
"intransigent attitudes" within the PLC drove the creation of 
the ALN and the defection of many PLC members to the new 
party.  Rizo called for the "complete and total" renovation 
of PLC leadership. 
 
Meeting with ET and NDI 
- - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶8. (C)  In Ambassador's November 16 meeting with National 
Democratic Institute (NDI) country director Deborah Ullmer 
and Etica y Transparencia (ET) director Roberto Courtney, 
they shared ET's analysis of the assignment of National 
Assembly deputy seats (based on 94.94% of the JRVs tallied). 
Courtney explained that ET's numbers coincide closely to the 
CSE's, except that ET results suggest that the MRS should 
have a sixth seat and the FSLN should have 37 seats, not 38. 
He acknowledged, however, that the ET count did not obtain 
adequate information to fully assess the results in 
Chinandega, Managua, Granada, Matagalpa, RAAN, and RAAS, 
given the closeness of the races in those departments. 
(Note:  The PLC says it will challenge a seat in RAAN, while 
the ALN expects to challenge seats in Chinandega and Managua. 
 End Note.) 
 
¶9. (C) Courtney voiced concern that the CSE's final 
provisional results by JRV had not been posted on the CSE's 
web page. When he learned from us that the ALN and MRS had 
not received the diskettes with this information, he was 
alarmed, claiming that he had assumed the CSE had provided 
the parties the information when it announced the results on 
November 15.  Courtney suggested that the parties call for an 
extension of the November 17 deadline for parties to submit 
appeals regarding the election results.  He commented that 
observers cannot intercede on behalf of the parties unless 
the parties inform them of their problems; he promised to 
follow up with the ALN and MRS on the matter.  (Note: We 
heard since that Courtney had talked to the ALN and MRS and 
offered to assist them -- including providing the ALN with a 
number of the 51 actas it is missing.  End Note.) 
 
ALN intends to submit appeals before the midnight deadline 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶10.  (C)  ALN administrator Kitty Monterrey confirmed with 
polcouns on November 17 that she had met with Courtney and ET 
had provided the ALN 29 of the 51 actas the ALN was missing. 
She added that the ALN will submit all of its appeals before 
the CSE in advance of the November 17 midnight deadline. 
According to Monterrey, the ALN will include not only its 
appeals regarding Assembly seat allocations in some of the 
departments and on the national level, but also, its overall 
observations of the irregularities it has detected in the 
vote tally process.  She will share an electronic summary of 
the ALN's report. 
 
Comment 
- - - - 
 
¶11. (C) The CSE's refusal to provide the parties with a final 
electronic version of the actas has greatly impeded their 
ability to compare vote results.  The significant 
inconsistencies (in Masaya, for example) and blatant attempts 
at manipulation (in Carazo, for example -- see reftel) 
suggest that the parties have ample reason to be suspicious 
of the official CSE results.  We will continue to monitor the 
situation and facilitate communication between the parties 
and observer groups. 
TRIVELLI