We met the President-elect of the Republic both before and after the elections. I hope to deal very briefly with our hopes and aspirations. During the lead up to the campaign we received a number of complaints. The main ones were from the various components of the UNO parties who complained that materials donated from abroad for the elections, such as posters, photocopiers and telex machines, were held up at customs until the week before the election, practically the end of the campaign. We also received complaints on election day where the presiding officers refused voters voting papers because the identity cards were not acceptable. There were obviously two types of identity cards and they would accept only one. The Opposition parties felt this was a planned strategy by the Government. We met it in one state in the region of Greneda.
Another series of complaints which were fairly widespread were that the police in the week leading up to the election were arresting people and taking their identity cards which, in effect, were their voting cards and destroying them during the course of interrogation or not giving them back. It was very difficult to follow through on those complaints. Nevertheless, we did pass them on.
In the entire system the Government of Nicaragua invited three observers, the United Nations observer mission to verify the electoral process in Nicaragua, the Organisation of American States and the Carter Organisation which was funded by a foundation organised by former United States President, Jimmy Carter. We recall that President Carter was in office for the first of the problems between Nicaragua and the United States. The contribution that the Carter Organisation especially made to the election process is very significant. From speaking to ordinary members of the public there, they felt very secure and very safe in the knowledge that there were so many observers. There were over 3,000 observers altogether many of them from voluntary organisations. There were American Veterans for Peace who were numberically very strong. There was the International Commission for Justice and Peace of which there is a very strong sister organisation here in the Republic, who do marvellous work on an ongoing basis.
As Senator McKenna so rightly said, the organisation of the election on election day was exceptional. I wish we could borrow a few of their procedures. They had, for instance, no propaganda, no posters, no T-shirts, no party ads, in effect, no hassle. People just queued up to vote and each voter took almost four minutes.
During the discussions with the Foreign Minister and the Ministry for Economic Affairs many things came to light. The economy there is particularly bad at this time. Inflation two years ago was 3,300 per cent but after the imposition of the IMF programme it reduced last year to 1,700 per cent and in January this year it was 138 per cent. At least it is moving in the right direction. The big problem facing President Chamorro at present is, will the Sandinista-owned army, the Sandinista police and the Sandinista public service be able to work for their country and for the new government? It is very important that this House make a very clear call to our Foreign Minister to ensure the European Community would make a financial contribution to grant aid the development of Nicaragua. It is a country with considerable natural resources by way of land and there is the possibility of an irrigation programme with two large freshwater lakes there. Peace in Nicaragua is a start towards peace and contentment in the whole Central American hemisphere.
Inflation is a big problem and since no one doubts that the people of Nicaragua were given a chance freely to express their will, there are no grounds to doubt that the victory of President Chamorro and the people elected to the national assembly are not 100 per cent.
In the last election, the opposition gained 20 of the 99 seats but this time the situation is significantly different. President Chamorro's victory is far from complete and her Sandinista opponents are still very much in power. Many of her own supporters are divided by virtue of the multiplicity of parties in the UNO. The country's economy is in a mess and inflation is exceptionally high. This country will need generous help, not only from the US. I was glad to see yesterday that President Bush promised $500 million. The USSR have indicated that they are prepared to continue to give financial aid, if requested. The Organisation of American States hopefully, will make a contribution for the development of the country also.
In our discussions with the secretary general of the two trade unions there the very cool approach and the very factual appreciation of their situation that these people have came through to us. I have great hopes that this election will mean an awakening of democracy in Nicaragua, and will bring about a complete change from the difficult situation that the people have lived in for some years back. I hope the international community will rally towards them to get them off the ground, to give the population a chance to look forward to a smooth and non-violent transition of power on 25 April next. Although the interregnum is a little bit long, hopefully the three official observer organisations will be able to stay in place until after that date, which would probably give the people more confidence that peace would be maintained. The election result must be regarded as a triumph for the Nicaraguan people. The result of the election was the exact opposite of the widespread predictions on posters and by commentators.
