Article I , written by:
Lindsey Stailing- Stonehill College
Erica Felker-Kantor- Boston University

As university students studying in Nicaragua for one semester we have had the privilege to witness the fifth democratic elections in Nicaragua's history. Our academic program, Nicaragua: Revolution, Transformation and Civil Society, studies the political history of the country with a focus on the Sandinista Revolution (1979) to today. Throughout the past two months, we have had the opportunity to meet with each political party, learn their goals and strategies, and attend political forums. Our time here has enabled us to gain a more complete understanding of Nicaragua's political climate.

For the past 16 years, Nicaragua has been governed by politically conservative political parties, The Nicaraguan United Opposition (UNO) and the Liberal Constitutionalist Party (PLC). However, up until the day of elections, polls reported that The Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) and the Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance (ALN) were in close contention, with the PLC and the Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS) not far behind. The potential for a runoff election lingered in the back of people's minds.

On November 5th, over 75% of the Nicaraguan population hit the polls to cast their votes. We too showed up on voting day as international observers representing IPADE (The Institute for Development and Democracy).Voting stations opened at 7:00 AM, but as observers we arrived much earlier to witness the opening of various polls outside the city of Granada. Throughout the day, lines of anxious voters waited patiently for their turn. Inside, the voting process, although tedious, was exercised with great care. Despite the occasional human error, the process was without a doubt fair and just. Votes were not cast by machine, but rather by paper and pencil. Each voter presented their identification which was verified with the list of registered voters. All paper ballots were signed by members of the supreme electoral council before distribution. After voting, individuals collected their identification card and their thumbs were stamped to signify that they had already voted as a means of preventing fraud. For the rest of the day, people proudly showed their thumbs and even received a discount at the local grocery and department stores!

At 6:00 PM polls began closing, but allowed for any remaining people in line to vote. Once the counting process began, no observer or official was allowed to enter or leave the voting location. We observed the voting officials meticulously count each vote by hand. Considering that voting officials had spent the previous night guarding the security of their ballots, they diligently worked until every last ballot was counted, verified, and packed. Many locations did not finish until well after 12:00 AM. We can truly say that this was democracy in action.

Nicaragua is a remarkable country about to embark on a new chapter in its political history. It was a privilege to have been an international observer in such an exciting presidential election. Time will only tell if Daniel Ortega and the newly elected national assembly will be able to meet the demands of the Nicaraguan people.

Article II, written by:
Julia Beaufait, The New School
Bonnie Driscoll, Macalaster College

This is our attempt at writing a ¨civic journal¨ based on the events of the 2006 Nicaraguan elections. The elections for us were a visceral experience, because we see a face and a family associated with each candidate and political view. We are also here as university students viewing the country through an academic lens, attempting to make connections between what we see here and what we are studying. Accordingly, this article encompasses our process of both the experiential and the theoretical.

From the moment we arrived in Nicaragua in late August we were bombarded with electoral imagery. Campaign paraphernalia, including bracelets, hats, t-shirts, flags, and billboards, could be seen in even remote areas of the country. The pervasiveness of the elections extended into our interactions with Nicaraguans who seemed to discuss politics with us at any opportunity. However, some support seemed to be more fanatical than political as charismatic candidates represent quite disparate experiences of history. Campaign discourse utilized historical references and, in doing so, evoked intense emotions and memories, hopes and fears.

Presidential candidate for the Liberal Constitutionalist Party (PLC), which has controlled the presidency since 1996, was José Rizo. This party came out of the broad coalition UNO party who defeated the Sandinistas in 1990. Yet another product of Arnoldo Alemán's dedocracy- dedo (finger) pointing by the party boss to choose his replacement- Rizo brought with him the party's history of corruption. The 1999 Pacto granted political immunity to Alemán and Ortega (both in the midst of scandal), politicized state institutions, lowered the winning threshold, and attempted to effectively cement a two party system.

The other player in the signing of the Pacto is perennial candidate Daniel Ortega for the FSLN, the party expression of the movement that overthrew the Somoza dictatorship in 1979. He carries with him the baggage of the rationing, obligatory military service, economic collapse, and US-backed contra war experienced under his control in the 80s. He does, however, serve as the icon of the only successful popular revolution in Central America. Ortega enjoys strong support from Venezuelan populist president, Hugo Chavez, while simultaneously provoking negative sentiments on the part of the US.

The strongest opportunity for a Daniel defeat was liberal candidate Eduardo Montealegre of the National Liberal Alliance (ALN). He's a Harvard educated, young business man promoting economic development and foreign investment. Montealegre ran on an anti-Pacto platform, promising a democratic liberalism free of corruption. Providing more diversity on the left was Sandinista dissident candidate Mundo Jarquín, who inherited the party Movement for Sandinista Renovation (MRS) from widely supported Herty Lewites, who died in July while on campaign. Rounding out the electoral slate was Edén Pastora, another historical figure running for Alternative for Change (AC).

In the past two and a half months we have seen unadulterated hopes accompanied by legitimate fears in the faces of Nicaraguans we have come to know and love. There are hopes that Nicaragua will advance as articulated by campaign promises of better jobs, education, health care, and peace. Since the 1990s, free market neoliberal economic reforms have been implemented, facilitating trade, development, and foreign investment, but cutting public spending in the second poorest country in the Western hemisphere- an unsustainable paradigm in a so-called Third World context. Fears were based on the possibility of returning to the crisis state of the 1980s, falling out of favor with the United States, or simply remaining with the current reality. This was the atmosphere in which the November 5th elections unfolded.

We spent Election Day as official electoral observers, observing several separate polling locations, called Juntas Receptoras de Votos (JRV). Historically, elections in Nicaragua have been marked by fraud, necessitating clear and transparent elections to legitimize results both domestically and internationally. This resulted in a tense and meticulous administration of the electoral process within the juntas. This tension was punctuated by the emotion of the fifth- some might argue fourth- opportunity for democratic elections in Nicaraguan history. While the anxieties remained palpable, a general euphoria dominated Election Day for Nicaraguans. One particular instance we observed was an elderly woman being carried into the junta from her house in a green, plastic chair by two strapping, young electoral police. Her frail body was no match to her elated smile as she deposited her straight FSLN ticket. As juntas closed and vote-counting began, the anticipation of the results was sobering, but there was relief that the day had progressed with few impediments- neither violent nor fraudulent. All there was to do was wait.

We returned to our colonia around 2:30 AM after completing our observation. We were certain that Montealegre had claimed an overwhelming victory based on the results of the juntas we were in. When we arrived home we heard the Sandinistas in Máximo Jerez celebrating in the streets. Some students went home to find their families awake and intently watching election reporting. Results showed Daniel Ortega leading by a significant margin. Although results are still coming in as we write, Daniel is widely recognized as the next President. A salient difference between US and Nicaraguan politics is the expression of uninhibited allegiance to a party or candidate. Both victory and defeat are felt deeply. Sandinistas took to the streets with their families and compañeros, carrying flags and firecrackers, with radios blaring John Lennon's ¨Give Peace a Chance¨- celebrating the return to power of a party many believe represent their revolutionary ideals. Inside the houses, somber opposition supporters looked on in fear that, under Ortega, Nicaragua will return to what was the 1980s.

As the dust settles, Nicaragua and Daniel Ortega will have to face realistically the future of the country. An Ortega win could be read as a strong act by the Nicaraguan people in the face of a clear US preference for anyone but Ortega or Rizo, as expressed by many significant figures in US politics. The victory, however, is more indicative of a division of the right- which together retain the majority of Nicaraguan votes- rather than a resurgence of the left.

There is no doubt that this outcome will be seen by some as another instance of the resurgence of the left in Latin American governments. Nicaraguan political history seems to demonstrate the phenomenon of the swinging of an ideological pendulum, marked by a periodic shift between the two distinct poles. In the case of Nicaragua, these two positions are radically opposed in the rhetoric employed. In practice, with the manifestation of the Pacto and its accompanying political alliances, in addition to the unavoidable pressure of the international economic system, Daniel's policies may not reflect the drastic shift expected. The election of Daniel Ortega may not be based fully on the luxury of ideology that we, as United States citizens, generally perceive as the basis for political choice. Rather, as the situation requires, the decision for many Nicaraguans is born of necessity. While there are strong party allegiances, decision-making is also heavily affected by the mere need to survive. If this seems wrought with contradictions, welcome to the realm of Nicaraguan politics. The people are looking to Ortega as the solution to their desperation, but he, or any president for that matter, cannot remedy the ills of Nicaragua on his own. In order to achieve the aspirations with which Nicaraguans voted, to surmount a longstanding history of political and economic subjugation, all sectors of Nicaragua must unite. A pluralistic and consensus-based government and its convergence with an independent and engaged civil society has the ability to generate legitimacy in the international community and to construct a more stable and sustainable Nicaragua.