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Nicaraguan
Politics
The major Parties
Politics of Nicaragua takes place in a framework of a presidential
representative democratic republic, whereby the President of
Nicaragua is both head of state and head of government, and of a
pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the
government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and
the National Assembly. The Judiciary is independent of the executive
and the legislature.
Major parties that currently hold seats in the National Assembly:
The Constitutional Liberal Party
The Constitutional Liberal Party is the political successor of the
Liberal Party, a faction which has existed since Nicaragua became
independent during the 1830s. After being defeated by the
conservatives in a civil war in the 1850s, the Liberal Party
returned to power in 1893 under President Jose Santos Zelaya, who
lost power in 1909. Under pressure from American troops who had
occupied Nicaragua, the liberals lost power the following year, and
remained out of power until 1926 when, following another revolt,
they forced the conservatives into a coalition government.
Some factions of the Liberal Party, along with some factions of the
Conservative Party, supported Anastasio Somoza Garcia, who gained
power in the 1930s, defeating another liberal faction led by Augusto
Sandino, who continued fighting after the 1926 coalition agreement.
The liberals and conservatives were both marginalized by the Somoza
family, who formed the Liberal Nationalist Party, and continued to
be out of power when the Somozas were overthrown by the Sandinista
National Liberation Front in 1979
The Sandinista National Liberation
Front
The Sandinista National Liberation is a Nicaraguan political party
founded on broad socialist principles. It led a popular revolution
that in 1979 overthrew the Somoza political dynasty. Following their
seizure of power, the Sandinistas ruled Nicaragua for roughly 12
years from 1979 to 1990, during which time they established
democratic elections and a national constitution, among other
sweeping populist reforms.
Their organization is generally referred to by the initials FSLN and
its members are called, in both English and Spanish, Sandinistas.
The Opposition to the Somoza government was inspired by what they
termed the anti-imperialist struggle of Augusto C. Sandino during
the thirties, decades prior to the Nicaraguan Revolution. Although
Sandino's struggle was against the United States, he was never a
Marxist
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