patth@ccnysci.UUCP (08/20/89)
Ported from PeaceNET: /* Written 12:10 am Aug 17, 1989 by cries in cdp:cries.regionews */ /* ---------- "Nic Campaign Trail: Party Dialogue" ---------- */ NICARAGUA: GIVING AND TAKING AND GETTING Beginning the morning of August 3 and ending 23 hours later, the long-awaited dialogue between the governing FSLN and the opposition parties went down on record as one of the first times that a joint document was signed by virtually all the political forces of the country. Multi-party meetings in the past usually resulted in walkouts with one or another party declaring that the FSLN was unwilling to seriously discuss opposition demands. But in a declared spirit of "give and take", an agreement was reached on the next steps to carry out in the unfolding Nicaraguan electoral process. A 5-point declaration containing 39 commitments by the government was signed at the end of the marathon session which was attended by representatives of the 20 opposition parties and the FSLN. President Daniel Ortega represented the government and Commander Bayardo Arce the Sandinista party. The opposition bloc UNO - which recently declared that it would register itself legally as a coalition - sent a team of six delegates to represent the 12-party formation. The Sandinistas placed the ball squarely in the court of the opposition at the outset of the session by asking if all present had the power to make decisions. Once having responded affirmatively, the possibility of postponing the meeting or of demanding a recess in order to hold consultations with their membership was removed from any who perhaps might have wanted to stall an agreement until after the Central American presidential summit meeting that was held a few days later. Ortega needed to have such an agreement in his briefcase prior to the summit in order to forestall possible pressures from the other presidents around the theme of "democratization". He shot for it and scored. Hashing Out The Details The contentious question of amnesty for jailed contra collaborators was settled, for the time being, with a government promise to release them once the plan to demobilize contra forces in Honduras was carried out. (On August 12, Ortega announced that a number of imprisoned campesinos would be released on the 15th.) The FSLN proposal that all agree to call on the US government not to carry out covert operations around the elections - something already discussed and approved by the US Congress - was modified to a call on "governments with interests in the Central American region to abstain" from such activities. A separate agreement signed by the FSLN and three left wing parties (Popular Action Movement-MAP, Movement of Revolutionary Unity-MUR, and the Revolutionary Workers' Party-PRT) singled out the CIA in its demand for non-interference in the electoral process. The bulk of the declaration dealt with specific aspects of the conduct governing the elections. Everything is included from substantive issues such as media time for campaigning (half an hour a day for each party or coalition on one of the state-run TV stations) to assuring that poll-watchers from the different parties will have food and transport paid for on election day. Given the recent spate of opinion polls and the experience with them in the Panamanian elections last May, a clause dealing with them was also included. There are no legal restrictions on conducting them and publishing the results so long as the full text of the questions asked and the technical details are published at the same time. However, all such polls are prohibited for a period of 30 days prior to the elections. Changing Laws Parties had come to the meeting with varying lists of demands, many of which, such as wage scales for workers, would have been more appropriately presented as part of their political platform. The discussion, however, was limited to covering points which would assure a fair election process, not on what a future administration would or should do. Opposition parties have long demanded that the military service law under which youth are drafted to serve in the army be repealed. The government has consistently and insistently refused to do so citing national defense needs and the fact that a war has been going on. With the new agreement, the opposition has been temporarily satisfied with the promise by the government to guarantee that no recruiting will take place from September until the end of February, 1990 when the elections are over. The recently adopted Media Law, the Law of Maintenance of Order and Public Security (under which contra collaborators have been charged and sentenced), and the law regulating the jurisdiction of the Sandinista Police are to be subjected to debate and reform in the National Assembly. Another commitment made by the government was not to make confiscations of property for political reasons. The recent expropriation of the lands of three rightist leaders of the private sector umbrella group COSEP (see "From `Concertacion' To Confrontation", June 27) brought this issue to the fore once again. The landowners are now demanding that the government make this commitment retroactive and return their properties now. Left Presses For Press The three left wing parties signed a separate document, not wanting to compromise themselves by mixing in with the rightist parties. They agreed that the president should continue talks with the other parties "in order that better conditions are achieved that will allow for a democratic exercise by the working masses and equality of conditions for the participation of political parties in the electoral process." As well, in a gesture of conciliation, the promise was made to give back to the MAP-ML the printing press which was confiscated in the early years of the revolution. The seizure order was signed by the then-Government Junta which had as one of its members Violeta Chamorro, present director of the anti-Sandinistas daily "La Prensa" which continuously claims to argue for press freedom in Nicaragua. --- Patt Haring | UNITEX : United Nations patth@sci.ccny.cuny.edu | Information patth@ccnysci.BITNET | Transfer Exchange