Nicaragua`s Supreme Electoral Council has disqualified the country`s main opposition party from the upcoming Presidential Election on November 7th.
By James Blears
The Citizens Alliance for Liberty, known as the ACXL, is the main political party, opposing President Daniel Ortega, who`s seeking a fourth consecutive term. He was elected President in 2007, having previously ruled Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990. His Wife Rosario Murillo, who`s Vice President is his running mate in this upcoming Election.
This ruling, says that ACXL President Carmella Maria Rogers Amburn De Monterrey, holds dual US/Nicaraguan citizenship which is illegal and she`s been stripped of her Nicaraguan Citizenship. She now faces the prospect of deportation.
It follows the house arrest of the Party`s prospective Vice President Berenice Quesada, a former Miss Nicaragua beauty queen. She`s facing terrorism charges after she publically criticized the lack of political freedoms in the Country. Its Presidential Candidate Oscar Sobalvarro is a former Contra. President Daniel Ortega led the opposing Sandanista movement which overthrew the regime of Anastasio Somoza.
Since June, thirty-one opposition figures including seven potential Presidential Candidates have been arrested, mostly under the blanket Sovereignty laws. The ACXL party says quote: “These actions of the regime, show how much they fear the civic electoral path.” While President Ortega insists everything is being done is in strict accordance to Nicaraguan law.