‘Pantomime election that was neither free nor fair’ – Joe Biden slams Nicaragua election as ‘sham’

US President Joe Biden in a White House statement criticised the Nicaraguan presidential elections, labelling it a “sham”.Incumbent Daniel Ortega and his wife, vice president Rosario Murillo, sidelined any challengers by imprisoning 39 opposition figures.Ortega, 75, is in line for a fourth consecutive five-year term – his fifth overall – with Murillo, 70, by his side.Washington – US President Joe Biden on Sunday slammed Nicaraguan presidential elections as a “sham”, as incumbent Daniel Ortega was assured to win after sidelining his challengers.In a White House statement on “Nicaragua’s sham elections”, Biden said: What Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, orchestrated today was a pantomime election that was neither free nor fair, and most certainly not democratic.Ortega’s regime “rigged the outcome well before election day” by imprisoning 39 opposition figures, including seven would-be presidential challengers in recent months and “blocking political parties”.Biden also hit out at the Nicaraguan leader for having quashed and “bullied” the independent media, the private sector, and civil society.”Long unpopular and now without a democratic mandate, the Ortega and Murillo family now rule Nicaragua as autocrats,” Biden said.’Restore democracy’Nicaraguans went to the polls on Sunday under what rights groups called a climate of fear in the impoverished Central American country.Polling stations closed at 18:00 (00:00 GMT) after 11 hours of voting under the watchful eye of 30 000 police officers and soldiers.Ortega, 75, is expected to take a fourth consecutive five-year term, his fifth overall, with his wife Murillo, 70, by his side.Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega (R) next to his wife and Vice-President Rosario Murillo (L) during a broadcast television message regarding the general election, in Managua, Nicaragua on 7 November 2021.AFP PHOTO: Cesar Perez/Nicaraguan Presidency/AFP Biden called on Ortega “to take immediate steps to restore democracy” and for the release of “those unjustly imprisoned”.The United States “will use all diplomatic and economic tools at our disposal to support the people of Nicaragua and hold accountable the Ortega-Murillo government and those that facilitate its abuses”, the president added.Washington, along with the European Union, has already imposed sanctions against Ortega family members and allies amid the wave of arrests in the lead-up to Sunday’s vote.We want to hear your views on the news. Subscribe to News24 to be part of the conversation in the comments section of this article.

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