General Information
At stake in this election:
- The office of President of Nicaragua
Description of government structure:
- Chief of State: President Daniel ORTEGA Saavedra
- Head of Government: President Daniel ORTEGA Saavedra
- Assembly: Nicaragua has a unicameral National Assembly (Asamblea Nacional) with 92 seats.
Description of electoral system:
- The President is elected by plurality vote to serve a 5-year term. *
- In the National Assembly (Asamblea Nacional) 90 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 5-year terms.***
* In order to avoid a run-off, a candidate must obtain either 40 percent of the vote or 35 percent with at least a 5-point lead over the nearest rival.
*** There are 17 multi-member constituencies for 70 seats (District magnitude ranging from 2 to 19) and one nationwide constituency comprising 20 seats. There is no threshold for entering parliament. One seat is reserved for the previous president and one seat for the runner-up in previous presidential election.
Main Candidates in the Presidential race:
- Daniel ORTEGA Saavedra
- Fabio GADEA Mantilla
- Party: Independent Liberal Party (ILP)
- José Arnoldo ALEMAN Lacayo
Population and number of registered voters:
- Population: 5,807,787 (2011)
- Registered Voters: 3,303,831 (2011)
Gender Data:
· Female Population: 2,946,568 (2011)
· Is Nicaragua a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (17 July 1980)
· Has Nicaragua ratified CEDAW: Yes (27 October 1981)
· Gender Quota: Yes
· Female candidates in this election: No
· Number of Female Parliamentarians: 37 (following the 2011 elections)
· Human Development Index Position: 125 (2014)
· Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: Medium (2014)
Disability Data:
· Is Nicaragua a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 March 2007)
· Has Nicaragua ratified CRPD: Yes (7 December 2007)
· Population with a disability: 871,168 (est.)