Key facts
- President Daniel Ortega declared Nicaragua will no longer hold elections.
- Ortega stated this decision aims to prevent opposition parties from gaining power.
- The announcement was made during a speech commemorating the 1979 Sandinista revolution.
- Nicaragua's 2021 election was widely disputed due to detentions of opponents and criminalized dissent.
- Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo, control virtually all aspects of the government.
Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega announced on Sunday that the country will no longer hold elections, effectively eliminating any possibility of electoral challenges to his rule. Ortega, who has been in power continuously since 2007, stated that opposition parties would no longer have a path to seize power through the ballot box.
Speaking during a commemoration of the 1979 Sandinista revolution, Ortega declared, "The days when parties backed by the Yankees and the Somocistas would return to power are over - never again." This marks his first public appearance in two months.
The country's last election in 2021 was widely disputed after Ortega detained opponents and business leaders and criminalized dissent. Last year, constitutional reforms further consolidated his power, naming his wife Rosario Murillo as "co-president" and extending the presidential term to six years. The government, controlled by Ortega and Murillo, has been accused by the U.N. Human Rights Council of transforming Nicaragua into an authoritarian state and systematically violating human rights.
Nicaragua has been experiencing a severe political crisis since April 2018, when a crackdown on anti-government protests resulted in over 300 deaths.