Original sentence: -backed dictatorship.Critics of U.Its supporters also compared it favorably to any election that had been held during the long period of U.Others responded that a wide variety of disaffected elements of Nicaraguan society eventually join different Contra fronts in the ensuing civil war, ranging from former National Guard figures, liberal politicians, Indians, ordinary peasants, to diaffected Sandinista commanders (Kagan 1996).Principal opposition political figures, however, boycotted the election.The Contras, the political opposition, and the Reagan administration rejected the results.The Sandinistas were victorious in the national election of November 4, 1984.The election was certified as free and fair by international observers.The legitimacy of this result was disputed.There were charges of widespread government-sponsored violence (Kagan, 1996), and it was argued that, because the Sandinistas had refused to allow international supervision of the election, there were only informal international observers (Kagan 1996, 335).Under Reagan, the United States continued supplying arms and training to the Contra guerrilla forces established in neighbouring Honduras by elements of the defeated National Guard, as well as allied groups based to the south in Costa Rica.policy argued that the rebels were extremely unpopular and that their military command was almost exclusively dominated by ex-National Guardsmen
Edited sentence: (Kagan, 1996).The Contras, the liberal opposition, and the United States rejected the results, and former Sandanista Army commander Humberto Ortega said, retrospectively, that "The fact that we had elections in 1984 didn't mean anything" (Kagan 1996, 336).The Sandanistas refused to allow international supervision of the election, though there were informal international observers (Kagan 1996, 335).The Sandinistas were victorious in the national election of November 4, 1984, which was  boycotted by the principal liberal opposition figures and held amid widespread government-sponsored violence.Under Reagan, the United States continued supplying arms and training to the Contra guerrilla forces established in neighbouring Honduras, as well as allied groups based to the south in Costa Rica.While critics of U.policy claimed that the rebels were extremely unpopular and that their military command was almost exclusively dominated by ex-National Guardsmen, others have noted that a wide variety of disaffected elements of Nicaraguan society eventually join different Contra fronts in the ensuing civil war, ranging from former National Guard figures, liberal politicians, Indians, ordinary peasants, to diaffected Sandinista commanders (Kagan 1996)