817.00/6245
The Minister in Nicaragua (Eberhardt) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 27.]
Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith a copy and an English translation of a law passed at the present session of Congress63 which took effect on March 15, 1929, and which governs the holding of elections for municipal authorities in Nicaragua.
Under the Organic Law of Municipalities of 1901, the Municipal Mayors and Sindicos held office for a period of one year, but this term has been extended to two years by the above-mentioned law, and the City Councilors will now be elected in their entirety at the same election as the Mayors and Sindicos for a period of two years.
As the Department was informed in my despatch No. 914 of February 13, 1929, the Dodds Electoral Law of 1923 was considered to have been temporarily suspended by the Executive Decree of March 21, 192864 which provided for American supervision of the national elections, and to have again come into effect upon the resignation of General McCoy as President of the National Board of Elections on December 15, 1928. Consequently, the election of municipal authorities which would have normally been held on November 4, 1928, did not take place, and the incumbents have remained in office pending the enactment of appropriate legislation to regularize the situation. This extended tenure of office of the present city officials has been legalized by the above-mentioned law, and the elections of municipal authorities will be held on the first Sunday of November 1929 and every two years thereafter.
I have [etc.]
- Not printed.↩
- See telegram No. 148, March 24, 1928, from the Minister in Nicaragua, Foreign Relations, 1928, vol. iii, p. 482.↩