[2] He faced Fabio Gadea Mantilla of the Independent Liberal Party, who was in alliance with other opposition forces both to the right and to the center-left of the national political spectrum including the Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS).
In an interview, García stated that God guided his acceptance of this candidacy and is assuring him he will win with the backing of a million votes.
He also represents Nicaragua as deputy to the Central American Parliament and was President of that body in 2004–2005, as well as having been a member of its Commission of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology from 2007 onward.
Jarquín founded in 1974, together with Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, editor of newspaper La Prensa, the Democratic Liberation Union (UDEL) in the struggle against the Anastasio Somoza Debayle regime.
In a poll conducted by M&R in 2009, Hallesleven was the second most popular public figure in the country, only behind Aminta Granera, the head of the National Police.
[15] The Independent Liberal Party is leading the UNE alliance (Nicaraguan Unity for the Hope – Spanish: Unidad Nicaragüense por la Esperanza).
[citation needed] Headed by Daniel Ortega since 1978, the Sandinista National Liberation front was formed in order to overthrow the Samoza family dictatorship that had been running the country for 46 years.
In 1979, Ortega's Third Tendencia, a political sect of the party, overthrew the dictatorship and the new government quickly disposed of the Samoza family's land holdings and made public the country's major industries, but allowed smaller and medium-sized businesses to stay private.
[19] Cid Gallup Consultora Siglo Nuevo M&R Consultores In October 2009, the Supreme Court, which has a majority of Sandinista judges, overturned presidential term limits as set by the constitution.
[27] The use of amparo to address electoral reform greatly narrows the impact of the decision: because the injunction was filed by Ortega and 109 Sandinista mayors, the topic in question was whether the Constitution's ban on re-election violated the political rights of that group specifically.
[28] The decision was made unanimously by six judges from the governing Sandinista party, including three who were summoned as replacements when opposition magistrates did not attend.
One such magistrate, Sergio Cuarezma, a member of the court's constitutional chamber, claims he was never informed of the afternoon session that overturned the ban.
Fabio Gadea, an opposition candidate, said that "We cannot accept these results, since they represent not the will of the Nicaraguan people but of the Supreme Electoral Council," which was also controlled by Ortega's Sandinistas.
Etica y Transparencia— which was not granted observer accreditation by the Ortega administration— later released a statement saying that "We estimate that the electoral process does not meet with the required minimum universal guarantees for an election," and Hagamos Democracia reported that four people suffered gunshot wounds and 20 were arrested in the north of the country.
Observers from the United States and other countries claim that the 2011 elections were flawed, and were manipulated by Ortega to strengthen his control of national institutions.
[33] However, the Sandinistas are widely popular and have strong public support as a result of their social programs (which have improved the standards of living for many poor Nicaraguans), so many observers conceded that Ortega would most likely have won the elections regardless of whether or not he committed fraud.
"[34] The Ortega family owns TV and radio stations, giving him control over much of the mass media, which, as a result, rarely gave air time to the opposition.
The president of Nicaragua's election authority, Roberto Rivas, stated that "a process is legitimate if the people's wishes were respected, and that is what we are experiencing here.
"[40][41] Gadea said that the result was allegedly plagued with vices and "that we suspect that we are in the presence of fraud of unprecedented proportions;" he also added that members of his party should await instructions as "the struggle continues.
"[42] The United States coincided with European Union Observers "that the Supreme Electoral Council did not operate in a transparent and impartial manner".
[46] The head of accompanying mission of the European Union (EU), Luis Yáñez called the triumph of Daniel Ortega and the Sandinista Front in the Nicaraguan General Elections indubitable and ruled out any possibility of fraud during them.
"[48] Ortega's flourishing social programs and improvements to the economy has made him increasingly popular with both the working class and the poor.