OAS General Assembly passes resolution declaring Nicaragua’s elections illegitimate

On Friday afternoon, the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) approved, by 25 votes in favor, 7 abstentions, 1 against (Nicaragua) and 1 absent, a resolution on “The situation in Nicaragua” Which proposes to declare illegal the general election last Sunday, 7 November, and sends an immediate assessment of the situation.

“To declare, under the obvious circumstances, that the November 7 elections in Nicaragua were not free, fair, transparent and did not have democratic legitimacy,” he refers to point 2 of the draft resolution obtained by L. Prensa.

The fifth point of the document Directs the Permanent Council to make an immediate collective assessment of the situation, in accordance with the Charter of the Organization of American States and the Inter-American Democratic Charter, to be completed no later than November 30, and to take appropriate measures.

The General Assembly is the highest authority in the Western Hemisphere organization, and is made up of 34 member states.

Before the vote, Nicaragua’s alternate representative to the Organization of American States, Michael Campbell, flatly rejected the draft resolution and defended the vote last Sunday. “We are encouraged, happy and confident,” he said after the re-election of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.

“The OAS is not our Supreme Electoral Council,” Campbell said, as a critic of the body involved in the proposed resolution.

The situation in Nicaragua was included in the agenda of the fifty-first regular session of the sessions of the General Assembly of that organization. Which will take place on Wednesday, November 10 and ends on Friday, November 12 in Guatemala. The inclusion of the Nicaragua crisis was approved on October 26 by the Preparatory Committee for this activity. While the regime officially announced its refusal to include Nicaragua as a topic on the agenda of the event.

The draft resolution on the situation in Nicaragua was submitted on Wednesday to the Presidency of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States. Last Thursday, the eight countries that proposed the draft condemnation resolution defended it, while urging other countries not to interfere in internal affairs.

The document was promoted by the representative of Canada on her own behalf and on behalf of the Permanent Missions of Antigua and Barbuda, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, the United States, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay.

The countries that voted for it are El Salvador, United States, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Brazil, Canada, Chile and Colombia Costa Rica, Argentina and Ecuador.

Honduras, Mexico, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Dominica, Belize and Bolivia abstained. Absent was one of the delegations: Saint Kitts and Nevis.

After the vote, the delegate of Nicaragua said, “We have once again witnessed the aggression against Nicaragua, which will go down in history as one of the worst attacks on democracy and principles contrary to international law, the Charter of the United Nations and the Charter of the United Nations itself.

“In their eagerness to give lessons to Nicaragua on how to manage its internal affairs and how to build a true and participatory democracy, these governments do not realize or try to hide the suffering of their societies,” he added.

Congratulate the countries

Costa Rica’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Rodolfo Solano, said, “Costa Rica sincerely wishes to join the celebration of a new resolution on the troubling democratic crisis in Nicaragua. The crisis that became more evident on November 7 with the electoral process that did not adhere to minimum guarantees to ensure free, fair, inclusive and transparent elections He also reiterated the call for the release of political prisoners.

Costa Rica was the first country to ignore the election results in Nicaragua.

For his part, the Alternate Representative of the United States, Bradley Frieden, noted that “the United States is encouraged that many member states of the Organization of American States have joined this resolution, a resolution calling for the release of political prisoners, which makes clear that those alleged elections on 7 November does not resemble any process with democratic legitimacy and asks the Permanent Council to assess the situation in Nicaragua and take additional measures if it considers them relevant.

Official results in Nicaragua

Despite the fact that in the resolution approved last October, the organization Daniel Ortega warned that the General Assembly, which opened on Wednesday, They can take “other measures in accordance with the Charter of the Organization of American States and the Inter-American Democratic Charter.”The regime did not back down and claimed the “victory” of the disputed elections, while still holding more than 150 political prisoners, including seven presidential candidates.

Wednesday, The Supreme Electoral Council, Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, allocated 75.87 percent of the voting results With one hundred percent scrutiny of the Vote Receiving Councils (JRVs), according to the latest report from electoral authorities related to the system.

The general suffrage in Nicaragua, which took place on Sunday 7 November, was marked by low citizen participation, the exclusion of the opposition, and the suppression of all kinds of critical demonstrations against Ortega.

They reiterate their call for the release of all political prisoners

The resolution approved on Friday also decides: to regret that the diplomatic and technical initiatives taken by the Organization of American States since June 5, 2018 to promote representative democracy and protect human rights in Nicaragua have not succeeded because they have been ignored or completely rejected by the Government of Nicaragua.

They also concluded that, on the basis of the principles enshrined in the Charter of the Organization of American States and the Inter-American Democratic Charter, Nicaragua’s democratic institutions have been seriously undermined by the government; And They reiterate their previous calls for the release of all prisoners and political candidates and an immediate halt to the arrest and harassment of independent media and members of civil society.

States will decide to apply the Democratic Charter to Nicaragua

On Wednesday, November 10 during a press conference, The Secretary-General of the Organization of American States, Luis Almagro, stressed that it is the states that will decide to implement the Inter-American Democratic Charter, referring to the agency’s taking measures in the event of the social and political crisis that Nicaragua is going through. via.

In any case, Almagro added, the 34 member states of the Organization of American States will conduct a “collective assessment, based on Article 20 of the Democratic Charter.”

Article 20 of the Democratic Charter outlines the steps to be followed “in the event that a member state changes the constitutional system that seriously affects its democratic system,” and the following Article (21) provides for the expulsion of the offending state, with the support of two-thirds of the member states.

In the case of approval of the application of these two articles (20 and 21), the approval of two-thirds of the member states is required, one of the organization’s sources explained.

At the start of the day of the OAS General Assembly, the European-majority OAS permanent observers echoed their countries’ refusal to vote in Nicaragua, including Spain, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany.

Secondly, Forty former foreign ministers of Latin America asked the General Assembly of the Organization of American States to refuse the re-election of Daniel Ortega to a fourth consecutive term in Nicaragua.And with her imprisoned rivals and considering her suspension from the bloc if there are no new elections.

Precedent on October 20

On October 20, the organization’s permanent council discussed the “situation in Nicaragua”, in which the political climate of the country was addressed less than 20 days before the public vote, and without any votes against and seven abstentions, a resolution was approved. Supported by 26 countries.

The Nicaraguan government announced the day before that it would not participate in this session, as its refusal to address “aspects only and exclusively with the decision of Nicaraguans,” it said in a written statement.

The approved decision indicated Adopt, if necessary, other measures in accordance with the Charter of the Organization of American States and the Inter-American Democratic Charter, including the evaluation of the November 7 elections during the 51st session of the General Assembly.».

Argentina and Guatemala in favor

In this vote, Argentina and Guatemala took a detour by endorsing the resolution, and both countries abstained, although they expressed concern about the human rights situation in Nicaragua.

The Argentine government recalled its ambassador for consultations in August, which provoked the reaction of the Nicaraguan regime by recalling its ambassador in Buenos Aires, as well as its representatives in Mexico, Colombia and Costa Rica, countries that also withdrew their presence. Managua.

Nor did the Guatemalan government endorse the results of the last vote on 7 November.