“Yesterday’s presidential updates (Sunday) in Nicaragua took place without democratic guarantees, and their results lack legitimacy,” wrote Augusto Santos Silva’s office on the social network Twitter.

Hours earlier, Josep Borrell had issued a statement calling the ballot the last step toward turning the country into an autocracy, at the hand of President Daniel Ortega.

“The November 7 updates complete Nicaragua’s conversion to an autocratic regime,” wrote Borrell.

“Daniel Ortega eliminated an entire credible electoral competitor, depriving the Nicaraguan people of their right to elect to get their representatives”, defended the head of European diplomacy.

In the same note, Borrell added that the Managua regime “not only deprived the people of Nicaragua of the civil and political right to vote in a credible, inclusive, fair and transparent election, but also fell short of its own commitments in terms of human rights and fundamental freedoms under the Constitution of Nicaragua, the Inter-American Democratic Charter and the international pacts to which the country is a party”.

For the EU, “the integrity of the electoral process has been undermined by the systematic imprisonment, harassment and intimidation of presidential candidates, hypothesis leaders, student and rural leaders, journalists, human rights defenders and business representatives”.

“The Nicaraguan people have been deprived of freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly. Dissenting voices are silenced, dozens of civil society associations have been banned and state repression is relentless,” the EU denounced, reiterating its call for an end to repression no country.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega was re-elected for a fifth five-year term (the fourth in a row), with 74.99% of the vote in Sunday’s amendments, according to the first official partial results released today.

The partial results are based on the counting of votes in 49% of the polling stations, according to the electoral court, which indicated that there was a participation of 65.34%.

An observatory close to choice, the Open Ballot Box, said, however, that abstention reached 81.5%, based on data from 1,450 unauthorized observers present at 563 polling stations during this presidential election selected by the North President. American, Joe Biden, as “a comedy”.

Also Read: Nicaragua: EU warns, update is last step towards “autocratic regime”