Economic Crisis to Force Delay in Elections, Nicaragua Aide Says

The Sandinista government is planning to postpone until 1990 municipal elections that were expected next year because it cannot afford to hold them amid a crushing economic crisis, Luis Carrion, the minister for economic affairs, said in an interview.

Carrion is one of the nine top comandantes of the Sandinista National Liberation Front, the government party. They are the final decision makers in Nicaragua.

Government officials had pledged to hold elections to choose mayors for the hundreds of towns and cities in Nicaragua in 1989. In an interview in June, President Daniel Ortega said the vote would probably be held next March or April.

Opposition political parties, which are a small minority compared to the Sandinista party, look forward to these elections because they believe they can capitalize on the acute economic discontent in Nicaragua to win many local seats.

A commitment to regular democratic elections was part of a 1987 regional peace agreement by the five Central American presidents.

Carrion said there is “substantial agreement” among Sandinista leaders that it will be too costly to hold mayoral elections next year and presidential balloting, as mandated by the constitution, in 1990. The current plan is to hold them simultaneously, he said.

According to Carrion, Nicaragua’s economy is in “extremely critical” condition after Hurricane Joan caused more than $900 million in damage. It was the first dollar estimate the government has given since the storm hit Nicaragua on Oct. 22.

The minister said the hurricane will probably “neutralize” the anti-inflationary effects of a drastic and controversial austerity program begun last February.

Nicaragua does not expect to receive enough foreign aid to finance necessary reconstruction, Carrion added, and will have to print money just to pay for the care of storm victims.