National Opposition Union (, UNO) was a

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

n wide-range coalition of opposition parties formed to oppose president

Daniel Ortega José Daniel Ortega Saavedra (; ; born 11 November 1945) is a Nicaraguan politician and dictator who has been the president of Nicaragua, co-president of Nicaragua since 18 February 2025, alongside his wife Rosario Murillo. He was the 54th an ...

Sandinista National Liberation Front The Sandinista National Liberation Front (, FSLN) is a socialist political party in Nicaragua. Its members are called Sandinistas () in both English and Spanish. The party is named after Augusto César Sandino, who led the Nicaraguan resistan ...

(FSLN) in the 1990 election. Its candidate Violeta Chamorro eventually won the race. UNO traced its origins back to the Nicaraguan Democratic Coordinating Group ( Coordinadora Democrática Nicaragüense—CDN), which was formed in 1982 by different opposition groups. At the time of the election, of the UNO coalition's fourteen political parties, four were considered

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

, seven could be characterised as centrist parties, and three – including Nicaragua's Communists – had traditionally been on the far left of the political spectrum. Despite the internal struggle, the UNO coalition under Violeta Chamorro succeeded in its campaign centered on the economic downfall and promises of peace. Chamorro promised to end the military draft, initiate democratic reconciliation, and restore economic growth. Many Nicaraguans felt that the contra war and bad economy would continue if the FSLN remained in power, because of the strong United States opposition to the FSLN (in November 1989, the White House had announced that the economic embargo against Nicaragua would end if Violeta Chamorro won.). Meanwhile, resources and organisational help were given to the UNO by the United States government's

National Endowment for Democracy The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is a quasi-autonomous non-governmental organization in the United States founded in 1983 with the stated aim of advancing democracy worldwide and counter communism, communist influence abroad, by prom ...

(NED), which in June 1989 had received $2 million from U.S. Congress, which had also approved in April 1989 a package of $49.75 million in 'nonlethal' aid to the Contras, which funded their pro-UNO propaganda campaign. Some villages reported threats of murder from the Contras if they voted for the FSLN in the elections. In the presidential election held on 25 February 1990, Violeta Barrios de Chamorro won 55% of the popular vote against Daniel Ortega's 41%. The UNO disbanded in the mid-1990s, after a very fractious rule during which little progress was made. The most positive consequence of their electoral victory was the end of the Contra War and the US economic embargo.

Member parties

The APC, PANC, and PCN announced in 1992 that they would merge as the National Conservative Party (Partido Conservador Nationalista—PCN) for the 1996 elections.

References

External links

*http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-9286.html *https://web.archive.org/web/20061110115230/http://www.nicaraguasc.org.uk/aboutnicaragua/from1979.htm *https://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/01/world/turnover-in-nicaragua-the-parties-that-beat-the-sandinistas.html {{Nicaraguan political parties Defunct political party alliances in Nicaragua Organizations of the Nicaraguan Revolution Political history of Nicaragua Political opposition alliances Political parties established in 1990