Nicaragua

Until 1990, Nicaragua had never had an election in which the winners and all the losers accepted and respected the results. But in June 1989, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, along with the Supreme Electoral Council and the National Opposition Union, invited the Carter Center’s Council of Freely Elected Heads of Government to observe the 1990 electoral process. 

President Carter wrote of this election: “For the first time in Nicaragua, power was transferred peacefully from the incumbent to a rival after a free and fair election. And for the first time in the world, a revolutionary regime that came to power through armed struggle turned over control of the government to its adversaries as a result of voters’ choice. The elections in Nicaragua were truly a historic moment for democracy.” 

The Center returned to Nicaragua to lead other election observation missions in 1996, 2000, 2001, and 2006. After each election, we praised the resilience of the Nicaraguan people and offered recommendations to create stronger democratic institutions and processes. 

Unfortunately, three key issues — fraudulent local elections in 2008, a questionable Supreme Court decision in October 2009 to permit the candidacy of incumbent President Daniel Ortega, and a presidential decree in January 2010 extending the Supreme Electoral Council magistrates in office after their terms expired — set the stage for a deeply flawed 2011 election process. 

Because of restrictive regulations, we were unable to observe the 2011 elections the way we had previous elections. The 2011 elections were a watershed event, realigning political power, dealing a debilitating blow to Nicaraguan democracy, and illustrating the limits of the Inter-American Democratic Charter and the practice of election observation. 

More information about the elections we successfully monitored is available in our publications section.

This project ended in 2011. 

Our Global Access to Information Program partnered with the Nicaraguan government and civil society organizations to support the passage of a strong access to information law.  

The law passed in May 2007 and incorporated many of the Carter Center’s recommendations.  

This project ended in 2007. 

Representatives of the Friends of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, made up of former Western Hemisphere presidents, prime ministers, and cabinet ministers, visited Nicaragua in 2005, when Nicaraguans were divided over a constitutional revision passed by the legislature but rejected by the president.  

Impacts 

The group, which included Carter Center staff experts, reported its findings to the Organization of American States, encouraging that body to assist Nicaragua in overcoming its tense divide, and an OAS mission was undertaken. 

This project ended in 2005.

In the mid-1990s, staff members from the Carter Center’s Latin America and Caribbean Program traveled to Nicaragua to analyze land and property rights disputes and explore resolutions. 

With the U.N. Development Program, the Latin America and Caribbean Program sponsored a forum in Nicaragua on property issues.  

Impacts 

Participants reached consensus on a few key reforms. 

At President Carter’s recommendation, a follow-up commission met to explore carrying out these and other reforms and made recommendations to the National Assembly, which subsequently passed a property law reflecting the spirit of the conference. 

In the fall of 1998, Hurricane Mitch became one of the deadliest hurricanes in Central American history, resulting in nearly 4,000 deaths in Nicaragua because of cataclysmic flooding. 

President and Mrs. Carter visited Managua to call international attention to the suffering and humanitarian need caused by the hurricane.  

Impacts 

Following a flight over Nicaragua’s disaster zone, President Carter urged lenders to forgive the country’s foreign debts and those of neighboring Honduras. 

This project ended in 1998. 

Concerned about an arms race in Latin America, the Carter Center’s Council of Presidents and Prime Ministers of the Americas urged governments in the region to pause before embarking on major arms purchases. Between April 1997 and March 1998, 28 current and 14 former heads of government — including Nicaragua’s — signed a pledge to accept a moratorium of two years on purchasing sophisticated weapons.  

This project ended in 1998.