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Nicaragua: In Brief
Nicaragua's Current Political Situation
Nicaragua began to establish a new democracy
which the United States supported the anti-
Sandinista contra movement in the country.
Institutions such as a democratically elected
legislature, a partially independent judiciary
(judges are elected by the National Assembly),
and an independent electoral council remained
weak, however. Since the late 1990s, these
institutions have become increasingly
politicized. In 1998, the leftist Sandinista
National Liberation Front (FSLN, or
Sandinistas) and the conservative
Constitutionalist Liberal Party (PLC) made a
pact intended to limit participation by other
political parties.
Current President and FSLN leader Daniel
Ortega was a member of the junta that took
power in 1979 after overthrowing dictator
Anastasio Somoza and was elected president
in 1984. As part of a regional peace plan,
Ortega agreed to democratic elections in 1990,in the early 1990s after eight years of civil war in
Nicaragua at a Glance
Population: 6 million (2014 est., WB)
Area: 130,370 square kilometers (2015, CIA)
GDP: $31.3 billion purchasing power parity (2015, CIA)
GNI Per Capita: $5,000 PPP (2015, CIA)
Ethnic groups: mestizo (mixed Amerindian and white):
69%, white: I 7%, black: 9%, and Amerindian: 5% (2015,
CIA)
Religions: Roman Catholic: 58.5%, Protestant: 23.2%
(Evangelical 21.6%, Moravian 1.6%), Jehovah's Witnesses:
0.9%, other: 1.6%, none: 15.7% (2005 est., 2015, CIA)
Leadership: President Daniel Ortega; Vice President
Omar Halleslevens; National Assembly President Rene
Nunez; Minister of Finance and Public Credit Ivin
Acosta; Minister of Foreign Affairs Samuel Santos L6pez
(EIU)
Sources: World Bank (WB); Central Intelligence Agency
World Factbook (CIA), Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
which he lost to Violeta Chamorro. After losingthree successive bids to regain the presidency in 1990, 1996, and 2001 elections, Ortega was
elected in 2006. Since then the government has grown increasingly authoritarian in nature. He
was reelected in 2011.
As a leader of the opposition in the National Assembly from 1990 to 2006 and during his two
terms as president, Ortega has slowly consolidated Sandinista-and his own-control over the
country's institutions. The United States and other observers cite municipal and regional elections
over this period, as well as the 2011 presidential elections, as having been flawed and used to
strengthen Ortega's control of national institutions. Nonetheless, Ortega and the FSLN have
raised the standard of living for much of Nicaragua's poor population, thereby increasing the
Sandinistas' popularity and public support. For instance, although numerous observers questioned
the legitimacy of the 2011 national elections and the official tally giving Ortega almost 63% of
the vote, many also conceded that Ortega most likely would have won the elections even without
carrying out fraud.
By 2012, the FSLN had achieved "near complete dominance over most of the country's
institutions," according to Freedom House.' In summer 2016, the government removed some of
the last checks on Ortega's power by removing members of the opposition from the legislature.
In early September 2016, Nicaragua granted asylum to former El Salvadoran President Mauricio
Funes, who is being investigated for alleged corruption. Funes, of the leftist Farabundo Marti
National Liberation Front (FMLN), said he is fleeing political persecution from rightist elements
and is afraid for his safety.
1 Freedom House, "Nicaragua," 2013, at https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2013/nicaragua.Congressional Research Service
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Reference the current page of this Report.
Taft-Morales, Maureen. Nicaragua: In Brief, report, September 14, 2016; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc944712/m1/4/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.