Archive / Other publications
Daniel Ortega's Comeback
14/11/2006 By Alejandro Bendaña
Daniel Ortega and the alliance “Unida Nicaragua Triunfa, Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN)” (United, Nicaragua Wins, Sandinista National Liberation Front) won the Nicaraguan elections.
One of the most repeated interpretations is that Nicaragua is joining other Latin American countries governed by the Left. Nonetheless, only the open and historical hostility of the United States Government would be surely indicative of this hypothesis.
There is no electoral mandate for the Left, as 62 per cent of the electorate chose not to vote for that ideological option; second, there were no major differences in the government plans proposed by the different parties and, third and foremost, the FSLN has stopped being a leftist party a long time ago and it did not even bother to proclaim itself as such.
Among the 62 percent that did not vote for Ortega, however, there are many who belong to the Left that reported that unscrupulous political chicanery of the FSLN party and Ortega's ethical behaviour did not deserve the vote. In the heart of the Nicaraguan society, the division between Sandinistas and Non-Sandinistas has not fundamentally changed either, regardless of the number of parties.
The major difference in 2006 is the lack of unity between the non and anti-Sandinistas, regardless of the desperate and coarse attempts by the United States Embassy of reunifying the Partido Liberal (Liberal Party).
Based on the final counts, it is clear that the unity between the liberals, the Partido Liberal and the Alianza Liberal (Liberal Alliance), would have meant, once more, Ortega's defeat.
Download the full version of this publication, available in Spanish (37 kB)
To read or listen to the comments of our experts in the media about this and other topics, please visit our Press section.
Keywords
Civil society Democracy Elections NicaraguaBio author: Alejandro Bendaña
Ph.D. in History from Harvard University. Alejandro Bendaña is Director of the Centre for International Studies, Managua, Nicaragua. The Centre focuses on issues of peacebuilding and economic justice.
