Politics

Nicaragua opposition alliance disqualified ahead of presidential elections

Managua, Aug 6 (EFE).- Nicaraguan poll body Friday canceled the legal status of the main opposition alliance ahead of the impending elections in which President Daniel Ortega is seeking a fourth consecutive term.

The order that could bar the Citizens Alliance for Liberty (CXL) from the fray comes just three months before the country goes to the polls to chose the next president.

The poll body, controlled by the Ortega government, also canceled the Nicaraguan nationality of CXL legal representative Carmella María Rogers Amburn, known as Kitty Monterrey.

Rogers Amburn had obtained her citizen identification fraudulently, the poll body alleged.

She carries a double US-Nicaraguan nationality.

The poll commission said it had received complaints from the Constitutionalist Liberal Party (PLC), stating that the CXL was violating the electoral law.

The PLC asked the electoral authority to remove the CXL from the election process.

The authorities have arrested 32 opposition leaders, including seven presidential candidates, since May 28.

The latest to be forced out of the electoral race is Miss Nicaragua 2017, Berenice Quezada, who aspired to the vice-presidency for the CXL.

Judicial authorities notified the 27-year-old candidate Thursday that she was under house arrest without access to the telephone, with travel restrictions.

The authorities also prohibited her from running for public office.

The former beauty queen was detained at the request of a group of citizens who identify themselves as “victims and relatives of the 2018 coup terrorism,” related to the government.

They requested the disqualification of her candidacy for allegedly justifying the crime and inciting hatred.

The electoral council has also canceled the legal status of three political parties.

The Nicaraguan parliament reformed the election laws that gave the ruling party, which has an absolute majority, greater control over the electoral structure of the country.

President Ortega, a 76-year-old former guerrilla, is seeking his fifth five-year term, fourth in a row and second with his wife, Vice-President Rosario Murillo.

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