Bush Asks Allied Censure of Panama Ballot Rigging : Pressures Noriega Before Vote

President Bush today called for all U.S. allies to condemn anticipated massive election fraud in Panama, where the Administration predicts Manuel Antonio Noriega will steal Sunday’s vote.

“All nations that value democracy--that understand free and fair elections are the very heart of their democratic system--should speak out against election fraud in Panama,” Bush said in remarks to the Council of the Americas, an organization of business people. “That means the democracies of Europe, as well as nations in this hemisphere struggling to preserve the democratic systems they’ve fought so hard to put in place.”

Anti-Noriega Rhetoric

Bush continued to step up the Administration’s anti-Noriega rhetoric as the Panamanian election nears. He repeated his promise that the United States “will not recognize the results of a fraudulent election engineered to keep Noriega in power.”

The government, controlled by Noriega, is backing the general’s close associate, Carlos Duque, for president. An opposition coalition is backing Guillermo Endara.

Bush said it took “great courage” for the opposition to enter the campaign.

“A free and fair vote in the elections,” Bush said, would enable Panama “to take a significant step toward ending the international isolation and internal economic crisis brought on by the Noriega regime.”

But, added Bush, “It is evident that the regime is ready to resort to massive election fraud in order to remain in power.”

White House spokesman Roman Popadiuk accused the Noriega regime of altering voter lists, invalidating voter registration cards of opposition supporters and firing government workers opposed to Noriega.

In a speech touching on the economic, political and social situation throughout the hemisphere, the President also said that unless Nicaragua’s leftist government changes the “ominous” actions leading to its elections next February, “it will be a tragic setback--and a dangerous one. The consolidation of tyranny will not be peace. It will be a crisis waiting to happen.”

The President blasted the election laws recently passed by the Sandinista-controlled National Assembly. He accused the Sandinistas of imposing a “stacked deck” against their opposition by unilaterally setting the rules, giving excessive enforcement powers to the Interior Ministry and barring private ownership of television stations.

But he did not say whether he would accept the results of elections under the Sandinista rules.

Aid to Contras

The Bush Administration is supplying non-lethal aid to Nicaraguan rebels until the elections.

Bush also called for “a new partnership for the Americas.”

He mentioned cooperation against drug trafficking and efforts to ease the debt burden of Latin American governments, but the speech included no new initiatives or policies.

He also renewed his demand that Moscow end its backing of left-wing subversion in Central America.