Nicaraguan general election, 1967

A general elections were held in Nicaragua to elect a president and parliament on February 5, 1967.

“Fernando Agüero led the Conservative presidential slate again in the 1967 presidential contest and was the sole nominee of the National Opposition Union (Unión Nacional Opositora – UNO) coalition. The Conservatives (then at the apogee of their popular support) and their Social Christian and Independent Liberal allies mobilized widespread popular opposition to the first presidential candidacy of National Guard head Anastasio Somoza Debayle. Although UNO lost the presidency to the Liberals the PPSC did win one seat each in the House and Senate”.^[1]

“In retrospect, the election of 1967 was the zenith of the Somozan political and electoral apparatus. From that time on, the younger Somoza took personal charge of everything, excluded the principal power groups of the Liberal Party, and started a gradual decline in the electoral efforts which eventually lost all pretense at being democratic at the domestic level”.^[2]

Presidential election results^[3]

Candidate	Party/Alliance	Votes	%
Anastasio Somoza Debayle	Liberal Nationalist Party (PLN)	380,162	70.30%
Fernando Bernabé Agüero Rocha	National Opposition Union (UNO) = Traditional Conservative Party (PCT), Independent Liberal Party (PLI), Popular Social Christian Party (PPSC)	157,432	29.12%
Alejandro Abaúnza Marenco	Conservative Party (PC)	3,120	00.58%
Total valid votes		540,714	100%
Spoilt and invalid votes		??	??
Total votes/Turnout		??	??
Registered voters		??	–
Population		1,700,000	–

Legislative election ^[4]

Parties and alliances	Votes	%	Seats/ Senate	Seats/ Chamber of Deputies
Liberal Nationalist Party (PLN)	380,162	70.30%	11+1*	35
National Opposition Union (UNO) = Traditional Conservative Party (PC), Independent Liberal Party (PLI), Popular Social Christian Party (PPSC)	157,432	29.12%	06**	17**
Conservative Party (PC)	3,120	00.58%	00	01
Total valid votes	540,714	100%	17+1*	52
Spoilt and invalid votes	??	??	–	–
Total votes/Turnout	??	??	–	–
Registered voters	??	–	–	–
Population	1,700,000	–	–	–

(*) Plus one life-time Senator by virtue of his being ex-President of the Republic. (**) Including one seat for PPSC.

References

1. Booth, John A. The end and the beginning: the Nicaraguan revolution. Boulder: Westview Press. Second edition, revised and updated. 1985. Pp. 108.
2. Bowdler, George A. and Patrick Cotter. Voter participation in Central America, 1954-1981: an exploration. Washington, D.C.: University Press of America. 1982. Pp. 63.
3. Elections in the Americas : a data handbook / ed. by Dieter Nohlen, Vol. 1. [Oxford] [u.a.] : Oxford Univ. Press, 2005. Pp.501.
4. Elections in the Americas : a data handbook / ed. by Dieter Nohlen, Vol. 1. [Oxford] [u.a.] : Oxford Univ. Press, 2005. Pp.496.

Bibliography

• Booth, John A. The end and the beginning: the Nicaraguan revolution. Boulder: Westview Press. Second edition, revised and updated. 1985.
• Bowdler, George A. and Patrick Cotter. Voter participation in Central America, 1954-1981: an exploration. Washington, D.C.: University Press of America. 1982.
• Elections in the Americas A Data Handbook Volume 1. North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. Edited by Dieter Nohlen. 2005.
• Gambone, Michael D. Capturing the revolution: the United States, Central America, and Nicaragua, 1961-1972. Westport: Praeger. 2001.
• Leonard, Thomas M. “The quest for Central American democracy since 1945.” Assessing democracy in Latin America. 1998. Boulder: Westview Press.
• Millett, Richard. Guardians of the dynasty: a history of the U.S. created Guardia Nacional de Nicaragua and the Somoza Family. Maryknoll: Orbis Books. 1977.
• Political handbook of the world 1968. New York, 1969.
• Smith, Hazel. Nicaragua: self-determination and survival. London : Pluto Press. 1993.
• Walker, Thomas W. The Christian Democratic movement in Nicaragua. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. 1970.