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Tranquil Election Day in Nicaragua Reflects Hope for Peace

Episcopal News Service. March 14, 1990 [90054]

WASLALA, NICARAGUA, Feb. 25 -- An overcast sky and the threat of rain did little to prevent voters from going to the polls to cast ballots in a pivotal national election today. A high-pitched, predawn cacophony of hundreds of

crowing roosters echoed throughout the mountains surrounding this town of 5,000 beckoning scores of voters to make their way to the polls.

By the opening of the polls at 7:00 A.M. long lines had already gathered, symbolic of the many years of turmoil and expectation that has characterized the political climate of this small, Central American nation.

"We've been waiting here since 3:00 A.M.," said a young man who had just exited the polling booth in a small rural schoolhouse about 30 minutes outside of Waslala. "I stood in line six hours to vote," he said.

For many Nicaraguans the voting booth was the end of a long journey. Some had traveled up to seven hours on foot from their remote mountain homes. The lucky few made the trek on mule or horseback. Yet, for all of them the journey was more than the walk or ride from their house to the ballot box. "We have come to vote today because we want to have a new beginning for Nicaragua -- one without war," said a voter standing in line.

At the center of today's election was the contest for the presidency between the current president, Daniel Ortega, who has led Nicaragua since the 1979 revolution deposed Anastasio Somoza; and Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, publisher of La Prensa, Nicaragua's main opposition newspaper.

Ortega, elected in 1984, is the candidate of the Sandinista party, named after Augusto Sandino, a revered nationalist resistance fighter who opposed the presence of U.S. Marines in Nicaragua during the 1930s. Chamorro is the candidate of the National Opposition Union (UNO), an alliance of 10 distinct political parties in coalition against the Sandinista government. Eight minor parties or alliances are also on today's ballot.

The integrity of the electoral process could be the turning point in relations between the United States and Nicaragua, which have been at odds since Nicaragua began to chart an independent course soon after the 1979 revolution. President Ortega's cultivation of friendships with the Soviet Union, Cuba, and other Eastern bloc countries angered officials in the Reagan and Bush administrations who advocated and sent military or humanitarian aid to the antigovernment rebels, commonly referred to as the contras.

In the early 1980s the contras had hoped to win enough popular support to challenge the Sandinista government. By mid-decade, however, they were reduced to a pattern of guerrilla warfare in northern Nicaragua, terrorizing and killing peasants in an effort to destabilize the government.

The U.S.-backed contra war has taken a heavy toll on both Nicaragua's economy and the psyche of the people. Peasants in the north live in constant fear of unprovoked ambush. The Nicaraguan government has responded to the threat by diverting about 50 percent of its gross national product to the war effort. This diversion has put on hold a package of government-sponsored reforms in agriculture, health and sanitation, and education.

In addition, the Sandinistas were forced to institute a military draft to raise troops to oppose the contra insurgence. Although the draft was suspended during the current election period, it has surfaced as one of the most important campaign issues. If elected, Chamorro has promised to end the draft. The Sandinistas have said they would resume the draft after the election is over if they win.

The voting today in Waslala may reflect the sense of exhaustion the people feel with the war and the draft. This town has felt the effects of contra attacks, kidnappings, and murders -- in addition to sons being drafted for government military service. "We must put an end to this war and the draft," said a middle-aged mother waiting in line at the polls today. "Too many of our sons have died in the war," she said.

In addition to sending aid to the contras, the United States has waged an economic war against Nicaragua by imposing a trade embargo and by applying pressure on international lending agencies such as the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank to deny loans to Nicaragua. Since 1985 inflation has steadily increased by alarming rates -- at times reaching 30,000 percent. The average annual wage in Nicaragua is $700.

"Things have been really bad these past few years," reported a young carpenter. "So many people are poor, we really must have a change in our situation," he said.

In an effort to end the economic and military war, Nicaragua concurred with a regional peace plan drafted by the former president of Costa Rica and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Oscar Arias. According to the plan, a voter registration drive and an intense political campaign would precede today's balloting.

The voter registration process that took place on four Sundays in October 1989 succeeded in registering a total of 1,750,550 citizens 16 years old and above, or an estimated 88.8 percent of the eligible populace. The registration process, later declared a success by international observers, was the first nationwide attempt to register all eligible citizens.

Following the registration a period of intense campaigning began that would rival the campaign season in many industrialized democracies. Typical examples of the political contest -- signs on billboards, balloons, posters stapled to telephone poles and taped in store windows, T-shirts, and spray-painted graffiti -- all proliferated in the Nicaraguan countryside, even in the remotest villages. "I don't think I have ever seen anything quite like it. They've really gone all out," said Mary Meader of Gloucester, Massachusetts, an international election observer affiliated with the Witness for Peace Episcopal delegation.

The high-spirited campaign ended in major rallies in the capital city of Managua by the two top political contenders.

On election eve, the progovernment newspaper, La Barricada, reflected the excitement and drama of the approaching election as it reported the speculation about the outcome. "We have tested every step of the process to guarantee that the result reflects the will of the Nicaraguan people," said former U.S. president, Jimmy Carter, who headed a delegation of official election observers. "This is a historic moment for the Nicaraguan people -- the opportunity to select leaders and heal wounds," said Carter in La Barricada.

"We hope that the U.S. government will accept the result of the election as the final judgment of the Nicaraguan people," said Sergio Ramirez, the vicepresidential candidate of the Sandinista party.

In addition to the official election observer team headed by Carter, several other observer delegations traversed the Nicaraguan countryside, including teams from the Organization of American States (OAS), the United Nations, and Witness for Peace. Today Nicaragua was inundated by as many as 5,000 international election observers (more than one for every polling place in the nation) and up to 1,500 members of the world press corps. President Ortega had pledged that Nicaragua would have "the most closely watched and fairest elections in the world."

Nevertheless, in what appeared to be a note of caution bordering on skepticism, La Barricada reported that U.S. Secretary of State James Baker might challenge the report of the election observers. "In the light of experience I think it is necessary that we recognize that the U.S. needs to make its own judgments concerning the cleanness and honesty of the elections," Baker said.

More than 4,000 polling places dotted the countryside today. Typically small, usually one-room, rural schoolhouses or health clinics were chosen as sites for the balloting. At each site hung a poster emboldened with large print that read, "Your Vote Is Secret," and alongside it hung another poster with carefully drawn illustrations to depict the voting procedure for those who cannot read.

Inside each polling place, electoral officials and poll watchers carried out the complicated laws set up to prevent voter fraud and provide secrecy in the balloting. "The process is actually a little slow and cumbersome due to the high level of security," said Henry Wells from Philadelphia, a member of the Witness for Peace Episcopal delegation and previous OAS observer of five Latin American elections. "It does seem to pretty much guarantee honesty."

Over 50,000 election workers and security police had been trained to handle today's election. In addition to three electoral officials at each polling place, political parties were invited to send "poll watchers" to assure the integrity of the vote.

The ballots have color-coded symbols of the political parties to aid voters who cannot read, and a blank space to mark an "X."

The possibility of a person voting twice or impersonating another voter is remote. As is the custom in many Latin American countries, Nicaragua voters today dip their thumb in a bottle of indelible ink after voting. Further, each person's thumb print was previously placed on a registration card and can be checked for positive identity on Election Day.

"Things seem to be running very smoothly in there," said Ann McElroy, a member of the Witness for Peace Episcopal delegation and chair of the Episcopal Peace Fellowship. McElroy, who had just exited one of the polling places in Waslala, described the activity inside as "peaceful and orderly."

By noon, as a small number of people were sporting blue-green thumbs, proof of having voted; many others were still standing in line and waiting their turn. Clouds overhead had broken to reveal the warm sun and deep blue sky. The slowly moving lines were filled with chatter and occasional giggles as people waited patiently to enter the polls.

"This is such a happy day for us," said several women in the line. "Of course, we are tired and hungry. And now that the sun is out we are hot -- but it will be worth the wait," they said. A show of hands revealed that none of them had ever voted in a Nicaraguan election before. "This is a great day for Nicaragua. We hope it will lead to peace and freedom," they concurred.

By late afternoon, lines at many polling places had dwindled or disappeared. A few polls would have to extend their hours beyond the 6:00 P.M. closing time. It would be well into the morning before preliminary returns might be available and Wednesday, February 28, before a final, official report would be issued in Managua.

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