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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MANAGUA 001383 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR KRAAIMORE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/10/2018 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM NU
SUBJECT: NICARAGUA: ATLANTIC COAST ELECTION RESULTS 
 
REF: MANAGUA 1367 
 
Classified By: Amb. Robert J. Callahan for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
REF: MANAGUA 1367 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY: On November 9, in Nicaragua's South Atlantic 
Autonomous Region (RAAS) thousands voted in elections for 12 
RAAS municipalities, while in the North Atlantic Autonomous 
Region (RAAN) hundreds turned out to verify their 
participation in municipal contests scheduled for January 18, 
¶2009.  Both the RAAS election and the RAAN verification 
proceeded calmly, despite low turnout and instances of 
Citizen Power Councils (CPC) meddling.  According to the 
latest election results the Constitutional Liberal Party 
(PLC) prevailed over Sandinistas (FSLN) in eight of the 
twelve mayoral and city council races.  END SUMMARY 
 
Low Turnout in RAAN & RAAS 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶2. (C) Nicaraguan media and embassy contacts reported that 
turn-out for RAAN voter verification and the RAAS municipal 
elections was lower than expected, despite significant 
efforts to promote participation.  At the more than 300 
verification centers in the RAAN, only 5,300 (or 
approximately 14 percent) of the 37,900 registered voters 
verified their eligibility to vote in the upcoming January 
18, 2009 municipal elections.  In the RAAN,s largest 
municipality, Puerto Cabezas, only 2,250 people of 18,000 
registered voters (or approximately 12.5 percent) verified 
their eligibility to vote. (NOTE: Approximately 1,200 or 23 
percent of those who verified their eligibility to vote in 
the RAAN also requested changes to their domicile 
information. END NOTE)  There was a similar trend of low 
turn-out in the RAAS' municipal election.  The highest voter 
participation was in the Rio Grande municipality where 
approximately half of the eligible voters participated, while 
in Kukra Hill, El Rama, and Corn Island, less than 35 percent 
went to the polls.  Nueva Guinea had the lowest participation 
in the RAAS, with only 10 percent of the registered voters 
casting ballots.  Despite the overall trend, our contacts 
tell us that there was higher than normal turn-out among 
Kriol people in Bluefields. 
 
No Violence in RAAN & RAAS; Some CPC Meddling 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶3. (C) There were no reported major acts of violence in the 
RAAS; however, our contacts told us that FSLN-controlled CPC 
groups were intimidating voters at some voting centers in 
Bluefields, although groups of PLC supporters successfully 
scared them away in most locations.  Embassy contacts also 
reported that there were no instances of violence by members 
of the FSLN, Yatama, and Liberal parties during the voter 
verification process in the RAAN; however, CPC members were 
present at each of the five verification tables in Puerto 
Cabezas.  According to Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) rules, 
it was illegal for third parties to be present at voter 
verification tables, where private voter information, such as 
address and party affiliation, were confirmed by individual 
voters.  (COMMENT: Post believes that CPC members want access 
to this information before the January election in order to 
locate and harass non-FSLN voters. END COMMENT) 
 
PLC Leads in RAAS; Cross Votes in Bluefields 
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¶4. (C) The CSE published initial RAAS election results of 57 
percent (or approximately 51,300 votes) for the PLC and 34 
percent (or approximately 30,600 votes) for FSLN cast in the 
twelve municipal contests.  The FSLN retained the mayor's 
office in three municipalities (Pearl Lagoon, Kukra Hill, and 
Rio Grande) and won in Corn Island.  The PLC maintained 
control over the remaining eight RAAS municipalities, 
including the closely contested race in Bluefields (see REF 
A).  Initial votes for Bluefields' mayor candidate Dr. Harold 
Bacon were higher than for the six city council members that 
ran with him under the PLC banner, indicating that voters 
were crossing their votes instead of voting a straight party 
ticket. 
 
Death Threats against ALN Candidate 
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MANAGUA 00001383  002 OF 002 
 
 
¶5. (C) As reported previously (see REF A) the ALN Bluefields 
mayor candidate Dean Hodgson was considering renouncing his 
candidacy to form a unity ticket with the PLC candidate to 
prevent the FSLN candidate from winning.  Up until days 
before the election, he was in negotiations with PLC party 
officials, but did not renounce.  After the election Hodgson 
told us that he and his family were threatened by FSLN party 
members two weeks prior to the election if he renounced his 
candidacy.  (COMMENT: It is widely believed that the ALN 
candidates would split the liberal vote in Bluefields. END 
COMMENT) 
 
Some RAAS Election Irregularities 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶6. (C) The media reported several instances of election 
irregularities and possible election fraud.  The Municipal 
Election Council (CEM) of Bluefields received allegations of 
over 900 voting ballots missing for the predominately PLC 
communities of Kukra River and Punta Gorda.  There were also 
complaints of administrative criminal negligence in the 
removal of election identity documents (cedulas) needed in 
order to vote.  In Pearl Lagoon, the PLC legal representative 
filed a complaint with the local CEM regarding the illegal 
annulment of ballots from five voting centers in Pueblo 
Nuevo, El Pedregal and Pondler.  The votes from these three 
communities were equivalent to 296 votes for the PLC and 42 
for the FSLN.  (NOTE: Had the votes been included, the PLC 
would have won in Pearl Lagoon. END NOTE)  FSLN 
representatives allege that the PLC transported voters within 
the RAAS to areas that would help them win.  In Karawala (in 
Rio Grande), the PLC legal representative filed a complaint 
with the CEM alleging that Yatama party members from the 
RAAN's Prinzapolka traveled to the RAAS to vote for the FSLN 
candidate.  The Rio Grande CEM, Alisio Lopez remarked that 
PLC activists on election-day had surrounded the CEM office 
and chanted death threats against him.  Six people were 
wounded after Lopez called for help from the local naval 
forces to disperse the crowd. 
 
COMMENT 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶7. (C) The RAAN verification process and the RAAS elections 
on November 9 were generally calm and violence free, with a 
few exceptions.  The PLC retained its historical majority in 
eight of the RAAS municipalities, losing only one new 
municipality to the FSLN, Corn Island, since the last 
municipal elections of 2004.  The PLC lost in Corn Island, in 
part, because it chose a party operative who was a poor 
politician to oppose a popular FSLN candidate. There were 
claims by both PLC and FSLN of voter manipulation in the 
contested elections of Rio Grande and Pearl Lagoon.  The CPCs 
were less of a factor in the RAAS elections than in the RAAN 
voter verification process, where the FSLN / CPCs have been 
historically much stronger because of their alliance with 
Yatama.  The next big contest is the RAAN municipal elections 
in January, where the FSLN is poised to win, unless a unity 
opposition movement can be formed.  After this election, 
there will be one more election in the RAAN and RAAS for 
regional offices scheduled for March 2010, where we believe 
that that the FSLN is planning on sweeping all contests in 
order to consolidate control over this part of Nicaragua. 
CALLAHAN