General elections were held in

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the countr ...

on 8 December 1936 to elect a President, half of the Deputies and one-third of the Senators of the National Congress. On 16 June the Liberal party met in León to hold its convention and name its candidate for the presidency. The nomination of

Anastasio Somoza García Anastasio Somoza García (1 February 1896 – 29 September 1956) was the leader of Nicaragua from 1937 until his assassination in 1956. He was only officially the 21st President of Nicaragua from 1 January 1937 to 1 May 1947 and from 21 May 195 ...

was totally uneventful. "The old party leadership was swept aside in favor of a new group of younger, more dynamic and ambitious men." Ex-President

Emiliano Chamorro Vargas Emiliano Chamorro Vargas (11 May 1871 – 26 February 1966) was a Nicaraguan military figure and politician who served as President of Nicaragua from 1 January 1917 to 1 January 1921, and again as interim president from 14 March to 11 November 192 ...

left for Costa Rica on 23 June 1936 claiming that his life was in danger. After Chamorro's departure from the country, the Conservatives were divided as to what to do in the coming elections. One faction, headed by

Chamorro Chamorro may refer to: * Chamorro people, the indigenous people of the Mariana Islands in the Western Pacific * Chamorro language, an Austronesian language indigenous to The Marianas * Chamorro Time Zone, the time zone of Guam and the Northern Mar ...

, decided to carry on with the candidacy of

Leonardo Argüello Barreto Leonardo Argüello Barreto (29 August 1875 – 15 December 1947) was a Nicaraguan politician who, after several attempts, became the President of Nicaragua in 1947. He served from 1 May to 27 May 1947. His older brother was the noted poet Santi ...

according to the Liberal-Conservative pact signed just before

Juan Bautista Sacasa Juan Bautista Sacasa (21 December 1874 in León, Nicaragua – 17 April 1946 in Los Angeles, California) was the President of Nicaragua from 1 January 1933 to 9 June 1936. He was the eldest son of Roberto Sacasa and Ángela Sacasa Cuadra, the for ...

was removed from office. A dissident faction of anti-

Somoza The Somoza family ( es, Familia Somoza) is a former political family that ruled Nicaragua for forty-three years from 1936 to 1979. Their family dictatorship was founded by Anastasio Somoza García and was continued by his two sons Luis Somoza D ...

Liberals formed the

Constitutionalist Liberal Party The Constitutionalist Liberal Party ( es, Partido Liberal Constitucionalista, PLC) is a political party in Nicaragua. At the Nicaraguan general election of 5 November 2006, the party won 25 of 92 seats in the National Assembly. However, the pa ...

, which joined up with the Chamorrista Conservatives to support

Argüello Argüello () is a Spanish surname, most commonly associated with the early settlers in the cities of Granada, Nicaragua and of Córdoba, Argentina, as well as throughout Mexico and, in the United States, in what is now the state of California, th ...

and Espinoza as his vice-presidential candidate.

's response was to promote the formation of a rival Conservative party that would support his candidacy.

's Conservatives organized the so-called

Conservative Nationalist Party The Conservative Nationalist Party was a minor Australian political party that ran two candidates for the Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the ...

. In November

resigned as Jefe Director of the National Guard so that his ascent to power could remain within the constitution. In November Conservative and Liberal committees supporting the bi-partisan agreement met and decided to abstain from voting on 8 December. Their decision had the practical result of withdrawing the

-Espinosa ticket. "Although he ran in the 1936 elections without any significant opposition,

built an electoral coalition that included urban businessmen, some urban and rural laborers, rightist middle-class groups, and some ex-Conservatives. In the years to come,

would maintain this coalition through an extensive patronage network that allowed him to govern without having to rely on the day-to-day coercion found in Central America’s military-authoritarian regimes."Mahoney, James. The legacies of liberalism: path dependence and political regimes in Central America. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. 2001. Pp. 233.

Results

References

Bibliography

*Alexander, Robert J. Latin American political parties. New York: Praeger Publishers. 1973. *Bulmer-Thomas, Victor. “ Nicaragua since 1930.” Central America since independence. 1991. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. *Cardenal Tellería, Marco A. Nicaragua y su historia: cronología del acontecer histórico y construcción de la nación nicaragüense. Managua: Banco Mercantíl. Volume I. 2000. *Cole Chamorro, Alejandro. 145 años de historia política. Managua. 1967. *Elections in the Americas A Data Handbook Volume 1. North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. Edited by Dieter Nohlen. 2005. *Leonard, Thomas M. The United States and Central America, 1944–1949. Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama Press. 1984. *MacRenato, Ternot. Somoza: seizure of power, 1926–1939. La Jolla: University of California, San Diego. 1991. *Mahoney, James. The legacies of liberalism: path dependence and political regimes in Central America. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. 2001. *Merrill, Tim L., ed. Nicaragua : a country study. Washington: Federal Research Division, Library of Congress. 1994. *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 1937. New York, 1938. *Rojas Bolaños, Manuel. “La política.” Historia general de Centroamérica. 1994. San José: FLACSO. Volume five, 1994. *Smith, Hazel. Nicaragua: self-determination and survival. London : Pluto Press. 1993. *Stahler-Sholk, Richard. “Building democracy in Nicaragua.” Liberalization and redemocratization in Latin America. 1987. Westport: Greenwood Press. 1987. *Walter, Knut. The regime of Anastasio Somoza, 1936–1956. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina. 1993. {{Nicaraguan elections Elections in Nicaragua

1936 in Nicaragua 1936 12 Election and referendum articles with incomplete results