US President Joe Biden Slams Nicaragua Election As "Sham": White House
NDTV
"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," Joe Biden said.
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.
"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," Biden said in a White House statement on "Nicaragua's sham elections."
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.
