Nicaragua seeks observers to verify elections

Press, 21 August 1989, Page 7

Nicaragua seeks observers to verify elections

By

MICHAEL RENTOUL

The future of Nicaragua before next year’s elections will be determined largely by the United States, a visiting member of a Nicaraguan aid organisation said. Mr Edwin Zablah, the general secretary of the Sandina Foundation, is in New Zealand at the invitation of Corso which funds aid activities through the organisation. Mr Zablah has also asked the Government to send observers to the Nicaraguan election next February. New Zealand sent observers to the 1984 Nicaraguan elections. A wide range of observers from different Governments were sought to verify electoral processes, Mr Zablah said.

“They will provide the best testimony of how the elections will be run.”

Asked if the elections could be hijacked, in spite

of the presence of observers, Mr Zablah said there was no basis for comparison with the Panamanian elections earlier this year which were marred by violence and corruption. Unlike Panama, United Nations observers would be invited to monitor the whole election process, not just polling day, he said.

The United States, which has supported the Contra rebels against the Sandinista Administration in Nicaragua, would try to diminish the importance of the elections by asserting they were unfair. Mr' Zablah maintained New Zealanders and other Government representatives were not being invited to help force out the United States.

In spite of this, that

country would have a large role to play in Nicaragua’s future with its decision whether to continue funding the Hon-

duras-based Contras. Mr Zablah said a recent meeting of Central American Presidents agreed the Contras should be disbanded. The Nicaraguan Government had challenged the United States to support the open political process in Nicaragua, and test popularity for the Contras in the elections. “We want the Governments of the world to see how a small country can build a new society on foundations of justice and peace,” Mr Zablah said. In spite of the country’s economic problems, the Sandinista Government still commanded majority support.