INDIGENOUS REGIONAL PARTY CONTESTS ELECTION

C O N F I D E N T I A L MANAGUA 000643 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CEN E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/22/2016 TAGS: PGOV PREL SUBJECT: INDIGENOUS REGIONAL PARTY CONTESTS ELECTION RESULTS AND WINS Classified By: AMBASSADOR PAUL TRIVELLI. REASONS 1.4 (B,D) ¶1. (SBU) The Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) decided in favor of indigenous regional party Yatama on March 18, ruling that the party won 13 seats in Nicaragua's Northern Autonomous Region (RAAN) election instead of the previously reported 12. Yatama leaders contested the election results in the RAAN based on a 2002 agreement signed by all political parties that transferred three JRVs from district 4 -- a predominantly Miskito area -- to district 14, predominantly Mestizo. The CSE originally printed ballots reflecting this agreement. However, after the Liberal Constitutional Party (PLC) contested them, the CSE reversed the decision and printed ballots returning them to the original polling station (JRV) divisions. With this change, the Sandinistas (FSLN) took a seat at the expense of Yatama in the March 5 election. ¶2. (U) Rejecting this outcome, Yatama leaders staged protests throughout Bilwi. A group of Yatama protesters in the RAAN occupied the regional electoral council (CER) building in Bilwi on March 14 and held the CER president hostage. Demonstrations also closed the airport, and Yatama members threatened to block the entrance to the city. Yatama leader and Bilwi mayor Elizabeth Henriquez informed the press that Yatama would not form a government with either the FSLN or the PLC until the matter was resolved satisfactorily. ¶3. (C) An International Foundation for Elections (IFES) source related to poloff that the CSE had called a breakfast meeting on March 16 with IFES, Organization of American States (OAS) and the Center for Human Rights on the Atlantic Coast (CEDECA) to address the issue. The CSE members outlined the situation and reported that they were able to work with the bishop in Bilwi to provide water to the captive CER representative. According to the IFES representative, the CSE could not make any official pronouncements until midnight March 17 - the deadline for disputing election results. However, the FSLN had apparently agreed not to fight Yatama's claim to the seat. The CSE relayed information through the bishop that the situation would be resolved in Yatama's favor and announced it publicly on March 20, in order to encourage Yatama to release the CER representative and refrain from more protests. ¶4. (SBU) The CSE announced on March 18 that the seat had been given to Yatama, but the seat was won at the expense of the PLC, instead of the FSLN. New regional totals are as follows: RAAN -- PLC 16, FSLN 16, Yatama 13, RAAS - PLC 22, FSLN 11, ALN-PC 6, Yatama 6. The Yatama leadership called off the demonstrations the afternoon of March 18. When businesses threatened to raise prices to recoup expenses from shipping products by land instead of by air when the airport was closed, Mayor Henriquez issued a statement threatening to fine any businesses that increased their prices due to the strike. ¶5. (C) Comment: The calculations behind the CSE decision are complicated. According to IFES, the Yatama seat would be taken from the FSLN, who had agreed not to fight Yatama's claim to the seat. The original plan was to tally the votes with the three contested JRVs included in the voting center per the agreement in 2002. This would have resulted in Yatama gaining the seat at the expense of the FSLN. However, when the CSE decided to combine all the votes of the two affected voting centers and calculate the results based on the accumulated vote, Yatama won the additional seat at the expense of the PLC. The PLC is contesting this decision and two other seats in the RAAN. End Comment. TRIVELLI