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Nicaraguan court sets path for Ortega re-election
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Presidents Hugo Chavez and Daniel Ortega Photo: Reuters ©
On October 20, the Nicaraguan Supreme Court removed a constitutional barrier to the re-election of leftist president Daniel Ortega in the 2011 elections. The court acted on removing the restriction after a petition from Ortega and a group of mayors was delivered to the court a week earlier.
By ruling to remove the barrier, the court has made a re-election for Ortega possible without the need of a national assembly or voting referendum to change the constitution.
Daniel Ortega is a former leftist guerrilla fighter and leader of the Sandinista rebels, who fought against the US-backed government forces in the 1970's.
In 1979, Nicaragua underwent a revolution where the Sandinistas and Ortega took control of the country and declared it a socialist state. Ortega was formally elected president in 1984. After years of failure in economic development and public policy, Ortega and the Sandinistas lost power in 1990 and the opposition party banned running consecutively or more than two terms.
Ortega returned to power in 2007, after running on a reconciliation platform and has since closely allied Nicaragua with other leftist states in Latin America, such as Venezuela and its leader Hugo Chavez, who has also recently changed the constitution of his nation in order to allow for re-election.
It appears that such constitutional changes are rampant throughout Latin America. Besides Chavez in Venezuela, leaders of nations such as Bolivia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Colombia have all sought removal of any barriers preventing their re-elections after consecutive terms.
Former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, a close friend and political ally to Chavez, also sought to hold a referendum on his countries constitutional term limits, only to be ousted by the Congress and Supreme Court of Honduras.
The United States has come under fire from Latin America for opposing each of the regimes and their re-elections, accept for Costa Rican President Oscar Arias and Colombian President Uribe, who are both pro-American in their stance and policies.
Such opposing stances by the US led Francisco Rosales, a court spokesmen to comment that "If Uribe does it, it's OK, if Arias does it, it's OK. If we do it ... then it's bad."
Perhaps the most enlightening aspect of Ortega's action here is that if he were to seek an actual constitutional change, it would require approval of two-thirds of the one-chamber national assembly, of which Ortega does not hold a majority. By seeking and gaining approval through the Supreme Court, where split opposition to his administration was weak to stop the changes, he has blatantly displayed his disregard for the constitution and people of Nicaragua.
