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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MANAGUA 000057 
 
SIPDIS 
DEPT FOR WHA/CEN AND DRL 
DEPT FOR USOAS - STEVENSON 
STATE PASS TO USAID 
STATE PASS MILLENIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION 
TREASURY FOR SENNICH 
AMEMBASSY BRIDGETOWN PASS TO AMEMBASSY GRENADA 
AMEMBASSY OTTAWA PASS TO AMCONSUL QUEBEC 
AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PASS TO AMCONSUL RECIFE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 2020/02/02 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM NU
SUBJECT: Nicaraguan Electoral Authority Continue Manipulation of 
Regional Elections 
 
REF: 09 MANAGUA 859 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Robert J. Callahan, Ambassador, State, US Embassy 
Managua; REASON: 1.4(B), (D) 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary:  On January 19, Nicaragua's Supreme Electoral 
Council (CSE) issued its regulations governing electoral 
observation for the March 7 regional elections.  Civil society and 
the political opposition agree that the regulations significantly 
differ from past practice, severely limiting those eligible to 
observe and keeping a careful eye on those who might eventually be 
accredited.  Following this, on January 22, the CSE issued a 
resolution disqualifying 25 opposition candidates on the Atlantic 
coast, three months after the process for disqualifying candidates 
concluded and the CSE already had published the final list of 
candidates.   A week later, the CSE reversed its resolution on the 
candidates blaming the media for erroneous reporting. 
Unfortunately, the CSE's management of the 2010 regional elections 
are mirroring its administration of the 2008 municipal elections, 
leading to an increased likelihood that the fraudulent results will 
also be the same.  End Summary. 
 
 
 
Restricting, if not Prohibiting, Observation 
 
 
 
¶2.  (C) On January 19, the CSE magistrates approved the 
"Regulations for Observation and International Visitors Invited to 
Accompany the Regional Elections," which is in accordance with the 
CSE's norms.  According to the regulations, those interested in 
applying for credentials may submit an application to the CSE by 
February 5.  As one member of a non-government organization with 
experience in Nicaraguan elections noted, the regulations are 
severely restrictive and invasive and differ significantly from 
those for the 2006 national elections and the 2008 municipal 
elections.  A member of the Electoral Reform Group (an association 
of civil society groups formed after the 2008 municipal election 
fraud to promote electoral reform) told us that the main concern 
with the new regulations is the very clear and repeated mention 
that the CSE has the discretion to deny accreditation to any person 
or organization that speaks ill of any state institution. 
Specifically, Article 5 of the new regulations state, "Any person 
[or organization] that has stated their partiality, opinion and/or 
judgment against the electoral authorities or the [March] electoral 
process, or stated their support or opposition to any political 
organization cannot be accredited as an observer."  Article 23 
further clarifies that electoral observers will refrain from 
"issuing any expression of offense, defamation, or slander against 
[state] institutions, the electoral authorities, political 
organizations or candidates." 
 
 
 
¶3.  (C) The CSE's regulations for the 2008 municipal elections did 
not contain this language, but the CSE ultimately did not accredit 
credible observers for those contests using the same excuse - i.e., 
the observers were not impartial.  For the March regional 
elections, the CSE apparently already has disqualified one of the 
country's two most respected observation groups - Ethics and 
Transparency (EyT).  In a public statement issued January 19, the 
CSE condemned comments made by EyT's executive director who 
questioned the credibility of the CSE magistrates as a result of 
the 2008 election fraud.  Another respected Nicaraguan observation 
group, the Institute for Development and Democracy (IPADE), 
submitted its application for observation, but is skeptical it will 
be accredited.  According to an IPADE staff member, the application 
process described in the regulations is unclear, arbitrary and 
contradictory, which gives the CSE ample room to reject observation 
applications.  Another method that might be used by the CSE or 
government to disqualify observers is the requirement that 
applicant's submit their financial plan, complete with funding 
sources, to the CSE and requires that these plans be certified by 
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the case of international 
 
MANAGUA 00000057  002 OF 003 
 
 
organizations and by the Ministry of Government in the case of 
domestic groups.  However, it is unclear how these ministries would 
certify these financial plans. 
 
 
 
¶4.  (C) Aside from the restrictions mentioned above, civil society 
groups and the political opposition have argued that the CSE's 
regulations for the upcoming regional elections vary from past 
practice.  One organization that works Nicaraguan electoral issues 
provided a comparison among the observation regulations for 
elections in 2006, 2008 and the upcoming 2010 elections.  For the 
most part the 2006 and 2008 regulations were the same, with minor 
differences.  However, the latest regulations are more restrictive 
than past practice.  Following are some examples of how the latest 
regulations differ from the past: 
 
 
 
-          General Principles of Observation: requires complete 
impartiality with new language specifically prohibiting any 
applicant who has expressed an opinion against the CSE or the 
electoral process. (Article 5) 
 
-          Application Process for Accreditation: requires the list 
of people who will observe the elections, broken down by the voting 
district in which the person will observe (previous regulations 
required a simple list of people once the organization was 
accredited, but did not require the specification of location); and 
organizations must submit their training plans and manuals to be 
used in training their observers, which then needs to be approved 
by the CSE.  (Article 13) 
 
-          Observers' Rights: the CSE will provide an assistant or 
staffer ("edecC!n") to "help" observers the day of the elections 
(groups interpret this as limiting observers' ability to properly 
observe the elections).   (Article 21) 
 
-          Observers' Responsibilities: attend CSE training on 
electoral observation and refrain from expressing opinions or 
judgments regarding Nicaragua's internal issues.  (Article 22 and 
23) 
 
 
 
CSE's Electoral Manipulation Doesn't Stop with Observers 
 
 
 
¶5.  (C) While the CSE plays with the rules governing election 
observation, it is doing the same with the candidates participating 
in the elections.  On January 22, the CSE issued a resolution 
disqualifying 25 candidates from the Constitutional Liberal Party 
(PLC).  This occurred three months after the CSE's own-established 
electoral calendar stipulated the final candidates list had to be 
published, which the CSE had done on November 5, 2009.  On January 28, CSE Chief of Staff Rodrigo Barreto confirmed to us that the resolution disqualified 17 candidates from the Southern Atlantic 
Autonomous Region (RAAS) and eight from the Northern Atlantic 
Autonomous Region (RAAN) because the candidates had not complied with internal PLC statues (which bars party members who hold an office within the PLC from running for elected office).  However, Barreto admitted it was unclear why these candidates had been disqualified three months after the final list of candidates had 
been published.  On January 30 and 31, CSE officials stated that 
the candidates had not been disqualified, but rather that the media 
had erroneously reported on the issue.  On February 1, Barreto 
confirmed to us that all the candidates were eligible to 
participate and stated that there had never been a resolution.  He 
did not explain the contradiction between the January 28 and 
February 1 conversations with us. 
 
MANAGUA 00000057  003 OF 003 
 
 
Comment 
 
 
 
¶6.  (C) The CSE's tactics of playing with candidate lists and 
severely restricting (if not prohibiting) election observation are 
some of the same tricks the electoral authority used to manipulate 
the 2008 municipal elections.  Threats of disqualifying opposition 
candidates could discredit the candidates in the eyes of the 
voters, increasing the likelihood that members of the Sandinista 
National Liberation Front (FSLN) wins in the regional elections. 
The CSE's regulations barring any observer who expresses a negative opinion about the CSE or Nicaraguan elections could be used to bar any non-FSLN member from observing the contests.  Civil society and every opposition party have described the CSE and its magistrates as corrupt for facilitating the November 2008 election fraud, and have called for their resignation or non-reelection.  These calls have come from not only the organizations working human rights and democracy issues, but also the private sector and various religious groups.  Unfortunately, the CSE continues to demonstrate with its actions that it is beholden only to the governing FSLN and not 
interested in conducting free, fair or transparent elections. 
CALLAHAN