Spain rejects Nicaraguan election results, slamming them as a ‘farce’

By Alyssa McMurtry

OVIEDO, Spain (AA) - The government of Spain said on Monday that it rejected the results of the Nicaragua elections that were won by incumbent President Daniel Ortega.

“Spain considers these elections to be a farce and denounces that they do not reflect the genuine will of the Nicaraguan people,” said a statement released by the Foreign Ministry.

Early Monday morning, Nicaragua’s electoral council declared that Ortega won the vote with 75% support, with around half of the ballots counted. His wife, Rosario Murillo, was also re-elected the vice-president.

However, the observatory Urnas Abiertas estimates that 81.5% of eligible voters abstained.

“Only the vote can defeat conspirators who don’t want peace and have fostered hate and death in our country,” said Ortega in a speech during Sunday’s vote. He called the elections a “historic battle” between peace and war.

Spain, meanwhile, slammed Ortega’s regime for imprisoning dozens of opposition leaders, barring international observers from the elections, and persecuting independent journalists.

Spain pointed out that journalists from Spain’s public broadcaster were recently denied access to Nicaragua on the border with Costa Rica.

The Spanish government’s views closely align with those of Joe Biden’s government, which slammed the Nicaraguan elections as a “pantomime” that was “neither free nor fair, and most certainly not democratic.”

The relationship between Spain and Nicaragua has deteriorated dramatically over recent months, as Spain repeatedly criticized the Ortega government for arresting journalists and politicians.

In August, the Nicaraguan government accused Spain of “meddling, interfering, and intervening” in national issues as the country tried to hold on to neocolonial control over Latin America.

“History will never forgive the Spanish state, which criticizes, accuses and demands from others that which they themselves do not offer,” read a statement issued by the Nicaraguan government.