'Electoral Farce:' Nicaraguans Worldwide Protest Recent Elections

Nicaraguan exiles in San Jose, Costa Rica, protested on Sunday against the presidential elections in Nicaragua, a vote critics have labeled a farce.

Chants of "long live a free Nicaragua" rang out, and festive marimba music blared from speakers as anti-Ortega protesters marched along a main downtown San Jose thoroughfare.

"We are repudiating the electoral farce, the electoral circus in Nicaragua," said protester Yader Vasquez.

Nicaraguans went to the polls Sunday in an election marked by longtime President Daniel Ortega's ruthless campaign to extend his grip on power by jailing opponents.

Since May, Ortega's police have imprisoned nearly 40 leading opposition figures, including seven presidential candidates, as well as prominent business leaders, journalists, and even some of his former rebel allies.

Ortega's only opposition on the ballot comes from five little-known candidates of small allied parties. About 4.5 million Nicaraguans are eligible to vote.

More than 80,000 Nicaraguans have requested refuge in neighboring Costa Rica since the 2018 protests.

Numbers had increased in the past three months as Ortega's government clamped down on opposition politicians and activists.

Ortega first served as president in the 1980s before losing in a 1990 upset, and he returned to the top job again in 2007.