ABSTRACT
During the 2000s, Nicaragua saw a slow erosion of its election administration inclusiveness. Many inclusive features of election administration, including highly decentralized polling places, remained in place, and national elections in 2001 and 2006 were carried out in a relatively inclusive manner. Despite few legal changes, the administration of voter registration and the distribution of ID cards has gone from inclusive to restrictive. In 2011, the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) not only eliminated its own voter education activities, it also attempted to prohibit any individual or organization from disseminating information on polling places or voter registry data under threat of prosecution. A partisan electoral body had coincided with inclusiveness during the 1980s and 1990s. International pressures and financial and technical assistance contributed significantly to Nicaragua's inclusive election administration in the 1980s and 1990s. Nicaragua's experience shows that the pathologies of partisan election administration can be severe, but they do not result automatically from the partisan composition of the electoral body.
