Ortega – Chavez Protégé
With Fidel Castro ageing, Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega has found a new leftist leader to emulate. Marching to the same tunes conducted by Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez, Ortega has manipulated the system to overturn the constitutional ban on his re-election.
Nicaragua has a one-term limit for presidents, and Ortega’s term expires in 2011. However, the Nicaraguan doesn’t want to leave, and so he asked the Sandinista-controlled Supreme Court for assistance.
According to The Wall street Journal, last week the court’s constitutional panel obliged him. The Nicaraguan press reported that the vote was held before three opposition judges could reach the chamber in time for the session. Three alternative judges, all Sandinistas, took their place and the court gave Mr. Ortega the green light. Mr. Ortega has decreed that the ruling cannot be appealed.
So here we have it. With Ortega’s approval rating in the low-30% range, he’d have a hard time winning a fair election against a united opposition. The WSJ pointed out the he controls the nation’s electoral council, and in the 2008 municipal races—the most important elected checks on the president—the council refused to provide a transparent accounting of the vote tally – the vote was marred by claims of widespread fraud.
Under the glaring pretense of “democratic” rule, another despot is ensuring indefinite rule. Nicaragua promises to become a growing irritant to its neighbors and to America.
This story is assuredly developing . . .
