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| - Nicaragua's parliament on Tuesday appointed a majority of governing party-aligned magistrates to the election body that will oversee November elections in which President Daniel Ortega may seek a fourth successive term. Six officials put forward by Ortega's Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) were appointed to the seven permanent seats on the body, according to Gustavo Porras, president of the singe-chamber National Assembly. The appointments are for five years. The FSLN has 70 of the 91 seats in the single-chamber parliament. "The Ortega Murillo family has chosen the route of imposing magistrates on the CSE (Supreme Electoral Council), loyal to its interests... with zero credibility for the vast majority of Nicaraguans," said the Unamos opposition party. Ortega, an ex-guerilla who governed from 1979 to 1990, returned to power in 2007 and won two successive reelections. After his latest victory, in 2016, the now 75-year-old leader named his wife, Rosario Murillo, as vice president. The United States and Organization of American States have urged Nicaragua in recent years to renew its electoral council with independent magistrates. "The Nicaraguan people know their electoral process needs reform so they can choose their leaders freely and fairly, in transparency and credibility," Julie Chung, acting assistant secretary for the US State Department's Bureau of western Hemisphere Affairs, tweeted on Monday. "President Ortega and his supporters should seize this crucial opportunity to increase the credibility of the electoral process," she said. Nicaragua's parliament approved a controversial law in December which critics said was aimed at preventing opposition politicians from standing in the election. In February this year, UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet warned the rule of law was deteriorating in Nicaragua ahead of November's legislative and presidential vote. Accused by the opposition of having established a dictatorship marked by corruption and nepotism, Ortega is expected to stand for a fourth term. bm/mlr/ft
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