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Minister of State Hoyer speaks in favour of an EU election monitoring mission in Nicaragua
Given the alleged rigging of the 2008 local elections in Nicaragua, it is of paramount importance that the presidential and parliamentary elections coming up in November be free and fair. Werner Hoyer, Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office, issued the following statement on the matter today (23 January):
“The Federal Government campaigned at an early date at European level for an unrestricted EU election monitoring mission of four to six months.
The EU election monitoring mission is a tried and tested instrument to check on whether a ballot satisfies democratic and rule-of-law standards. It is now up to the Government of Nicaragua to lend the necessary credibility to the election process by agreeing to the EU election monitoring mission.
In addition, the Government of Nicaragua is called upon to admit independent civil-society NGOs as national election observers.”
