Posted 2009/10/22 at 9:27 pm EDT
WASHINGTON, Oct. 22, 2009 (Reuters) — The United States on Thursday expressed concern about a Nicaraguan court ruling that opens the way for leftist President Daniel Ortega to seek re-election in the 2011 election.
Nicaragua's Supreme Court on Monday issued a ruling that helped to clear the way for Ortega to run for another term, following a petition from him and a group of mayors last week. The country's electoral court said it would comply with the ruling.
The U.S. State Department questioned the way the court had reached its decision, and said the move threatens democratic governance.
"The ruling appears to short-circuit, through legal maneuverings, the open and transparent consideration by the Nicaraguan people of the possibility for presidential re-election," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said in a statement.
"We share the concern of many Nicaraguans that this situation is part of a larger pattern of questionable and irregular governmental actions," Kelly added.
Latin American countries are increasingly wrestling with the issue of presidential term limits as leftists such as Venezuela's self-styled socialist President Hugo Chavez seek to stay in power as long as they can win elections.
Ortega -- a left-wing former guerrilla fighter whose Sandinista rebels fought U.S.-backed government forces during a Cold War-era civil war -- first took power after Nicaragua's 1979 revolution and was formally elected president in 1984.
After his Sandinista party lost power in 1990, the opposition banned re-election with a clause in the 1995 constitution.
Ortega returned to power in 2007 after running on a platform of reconciliation but presidents in Nicaragua are barred from running consecutively or serving more than two terms.
(Reporting by JoAnne Allen; Editing by Eric Walsh)
Share
Blog
Subscribe
Print
Email
Bookmark