ABSTRACT
In the 1980s, Nicaragua established an inclusive and competent election administration system, carrying out two elections free of significant irregularities and significantly more accessible to voters than in neighboring El Salvador or Guatemala. This chapter examines the origins of Nicaragua's inclusive election administration and the beginnings of its unraveling in the mid-1990s. Voter registration was made mandatory because it was to also serve as a census, although voting itself was not compulsory. While the voter registration process was commended by observers, the decentralization of polling sites was also praised by observers. Inclusive voter registration, polling locations, and voting procedures were complemented by voter-information campaigns. The contrasts between the inclusiveness of Nicaragua's election administration in the 1980s to mid-1990s and that of El Salvador and Guatemala are significant. Nicaragua's election administration practices during the country's democratic transition were significantly more inclusive than practices in Guatemala and El Salvador.
