Elections

August 12, 2016

Nicaragua, Politics

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Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, 1990 inauguration

My first election was the historic Nicaraguan 1990 election. I went to register with all my high school friends, last names L-M, because that’s how it was. You had to register on the day you were assigned to do so. We voted a few weeks later, and we were scared stiff. We thought it would not matter who we voted for, because  the election was going to be rigged so that Daniel Ortega could win.
Guess what? He lost. It shocked everyone. 
Election night was eerie in my home town because the Sandinista party had commandeered the central park to host their victory party. They just kept playing the music all night long, even though it was clear to everyone who was listening to the radio that Daniel was losing.
 
The following morning, I remember walking downtown with my best friend. The streets were deserted. I remember picking up a copy of La Prensa, Nicaragua’s oldest daily. On the front page, there was a big picture of Doña Violeta, as we called her out of respect — we call every one Don or Doña out of respect — and I think the headline was either VICTORIA, or SHE WON, or something to that effect. We were in disbelief, and we were scared. We had managed to unseat the party that had ruled our lives for 10 years. Now, we had no idea of what the future would bring. The immediate future did bring several days of unrest, as mobs of Sandinista sympathizers (turbas) protested and terrorized everyone who had identified Violeta voter every night. For instance, the pharmacist down my street dared to hang a Nicaraguan flag in celebration. His house was vandalized by the Turbas. He kept his flag up, though, and eventually, things calmed down. Doña Violeta assumed the presidency, and she was wise enough to not seek reelection. 
 
The 1990 election mattered to me; it made me believe that elections mattered. However, my country never had the chance to develop a strong electoral system. Doña Violeta may have refused to run for reelection, but her successor, Arnoldo Aleman, and his erstwhile foe, Daniel Ortega, made deal that ended up with what we have now in Nicaragua. Twenty-six years after the historic 1990 election, we had another one that is just to painful to even try to explain. Suffice to say that Ortega was reelected, and he’s still there, after amending the constitution. 
 
My country is pretty much screwed in terms of elections. Daniel Ortega came back and made sure of that.
 
The United States, though, is not screwed. You may hear Mr. Trump railing about the rigged system. That’s rich, considering that Mr. Trump also talks a good game about how he has gamed the system and made tons of money by doing so. 
 
I’m not saying that Hillary is a saint, but I would like to caution my American friends about this. You have NO IDEA of what a rigged system looks like, unless you have been the target of voting suppression efforts that keep you or your family from exercising your right to vote. You have ample opportunity to exercise that right and to get involved as well. You can vote, you can participate, you can volunteer at the polls, you can drive people to the polls. Figure out who you want to support, and then go support them.
 
If you want to vote for Mr. Trump, that is your right. If you want to vote for Secretary Clinton, that is also your right. If you want to vote for Gary Johnson or Jill Stein, it is your right as well. I will not write about who you should vote for, as that is not my place, but I do want to share my experience with voting. I voted in 1990 and it was empowering. I voted again in 1996, but I chose to nullify my vote because I didn’t believe in the candidates running. I thought that, since Nicaraguan law required to count and publicize null votes, if there was enough of them, it would make a difference. It would send a message about our lack of choices.  It didn’t, and it set us up for one corruption scandal after another under Arnoldo Aleman, and then under Mr Bolaños. I was disgusted. I ended up sitting out the 2001 election out of hopelessness. I abrogated my responsibility then. Now, my country is headed to an election that is just pro-forma, and I probably was one of the people who set up a situation where that could happen because I didn’t do anything.  I can’t even vote in the 2016 election in Nicaragua, even though I’m a Nicaraguan citizen. My government doesn’t allow absentee ballots. If I could, I would do my due diligence. If it was an actual election, I would read the platforms and chose the candidate that represented my values most closely.  In my country of birth, there is no such person, as Mr. Ortega has made certain of that (see links for more information).
 Links about Nicaraguan politics and the Nicaraguan election:

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