L.American observer group endorses Nicaraguan municipal elections
12/11/2008 17:06
Latin American observer group Tikal Protocol has endorsed the Nicaraguan
municipal elections, saying they were transparent.
Any political party
alleging voting fraud must provide evidence, the group's secretary Roberto
Cuellar said yesterday.
Nicaragua's Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) announced
Monday that the country's ruling Sandinista Party (FSLN) had won Sunday's
elections to 94 municipalities, including the capital Managua.
The CSE said
FSLN candidate Alexis Arguello received 51.3 percent of the votes in Managua,
while Eduardo Montealegre, candidate of the opposition Constitutional Liberal
Party (PLC), had won 46.45 percent.
However, Montealegre challenged the
results, claiming to be the winner.
According to Cuellar, there had been some
incidents during the elections but they did not affect the final
results.
"What we saw was a slow voting process, we could propose something
faster and easier," Cuellar said.
Meanwhile, Managua and some other regions
of the country remained calm despite violent clashes Monday between supporters
of the FSLN and PLC.
The Tikal Protocol, signed in September 1985 in
Guatemala's Tikal city, is composed of officials from electoral tribunals in
Latin America. They had been invited by the CSE of Nicaragua to observe the
municipal elections.
Xinhua
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