The Sandinistas complete their political supremacy in Nicaragua

MEXICO CITY – The Sandinista National Liberation Front completed its political dominance in Nicaragua on Monday when election officials said it had won control of all of the country’s 153 municipalities in elections critics called unfair.

President Daniel Ortega’s party controlled 141 of Nicaragua’s municipalities in Sunday’s elections. But after they banned the country’s main opposition parties and jailed dozens of opposition figures, the field was clear for the Sandinista attack.

They appeared to attain de facto single party status and gain control of the last 12 communes that had been in the hands of other parties, although these groups were seen as collaborative by much of the opposition in exile.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on Friday expressed concern that Nicaragua does not have “the minimum necessary conditions” for free and fair elections to be held. It called on the government to restore democratic guarantees and end the repression.

The government has shut down around 2,000 non-governmental groups and more than 50 media outlets as it cracked down on dissenting voices. About 100 civil society organizations were shut down on Friday, the government said.

The pace of the crackdown has increased since the run-up to last year’s national election, which Ortega won for a fourth straight year.