Carter Center monitors election
Thirty-five international delegates representing The Carter Center's Council
of Freely Elected Heads of Government arrived in Managua, Nicaragua on Oct.
17 and 18 to assist in monitoring the national elections there.
Leading the delegation was former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, former Secretary
of State James A. Baker III, former Costa Rica President Oscar Arias, and
former Ecuador President Osvaldo Hurtado. These leaders represent the Council
of Freely Elected Heads of Government, an informal group of 27 former and
current heads of state based at The Carter Center's Latin American and Caribbean
Program.
The Council has observed 14 elections in nine countries in this hemisphere,
including the 1990 Nicaragua elections, marking the country's first peaceful
transfer of power from one party to another. The Council was invited by
the Nicaragua Electoral Council and leaders of the major political parties
to work with some 300 other international election monitors supporting the
country's democratic process.
"Our delegation will divide into teams of two and three people and
travel to all regions of the country to assess the election process,"
said Robert Pastor, director of The Carter Center's Latin American and Caribbean
Program and professor of political science. "We will collaborate closely
with the teams of the Organization of American States and the European Union."
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