2001 Presidential Elections
| Presidential styles of Enrique Bolaños |
|
|---|---|
| Reference style | El Honorable Enrique Bolaños, Presidente de la República de Nicaragua The Honorable Enrique Bolanos, President of the Republic of Nicaragua |
| Spoken style | Presidente Bolaños President Bolanos |
| Alternative style | Señor Presidente Mister President |
Bolaños was chosen as the presidential candidate for the 2001 elections at the Grand Convention of the Constitutionalist Liberal Party (PLC) meeting in 2001. Former President Arnoldo Alemán handpicked Bolaños as his successor.
La Prensa and other Nicaraguan newspapers have since reported that Alemán chose Bolaños as an interim president. Because the Nicaraguan constitution forbids consecutive presidential terms, it is believed that Alemán sought a candidate who could be easily manipulated, allowing him to govern from behind the scenes until the 2006 elections, when he would seek re-election. Alemán has denied these allegations.
While Bolaños had the support of the powerful PLC, he was widely regarded as an American “puppet” candidate and was also seen as apathetic and lacking charisma. Many voters saw him as a weak public figure, particularly because he had failed to speak out against the rampant corruption present during Alemán’s tenure as president. Daniel Ortega, the main opposition candidate, commonly referred to Bolaños as a “candidate for the wealthy” and a “senile” old man unfit for office. He was nicknamed by some “bola de años” a pun on his surname literally translated as “ball of years.”
In August 2001 he publicly denounced corruption in the presidency, distancing himself from Alemán without publicly attacking him. Bolaños also accused Daniel Ortega of “destroying” the country’s economy during the 1980s and criticized his close ties to Fidel Castro, Hugo Chávez and Muammar al-Gaddafi.
Public polls showed Ortega and Bolaños virtually tied up to the elections held on 5 November 2001. On election day, a massive 90% voter turnout overburdened the polls. Some Nicaraguans waited in line for as much as 10 hours before casting their vote. Bolaños won the presidential elections with 56.3% of the vote, Daniel Ortega received 42.3% and Conservative Party candidate Alberto Saborio received 1.4%. International observers from the United States, United Nations and Europe declared the elections clean and fair, and there was no violence and minimal public disturbance during the elections.
Read more about this topic: Enrique Bolaños
Famous quotes containing the words presidential and/or elections:
“Mr. Roosevelt, this is my principal request—it is almost the last request I shall ever make of anybody. Before you leave the presidential chair, recommend Congress to submit to the Legislatures a Constitutional Amendment which will enfranchise women, and thus take your place in history with Lincoln, the great emancipator. I beg of you not to close your term of office without doing this.”
—Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906)
“In my public statements I have earnestly urged that there rested upon government many responsibilities which affect the moral and spiritual welfare of our people. The participation of women in elections has produced a keener realization of the importance of these questions and has contributed to higher national ideals. Moreover, it is through them that our national ideals are ingrained in our children.”
—Herbert Hoover (1874–1964)