July 20thReuters —
Nicaragua’s longtime president, Daniel Ortega, said the Central American country would no longer hold elections, eliminating the possibility of contesting the election when his term ends next year and further entrenching the rules he shares with his wife.
Ortega, who has been in power continuously since 2007 following an early presidential term in the 1980s, did not provide details about implementing the ban, but said the move would close the door to opposition forces.
“There will be no more elections here for them to seize the government and seize power,” Ortega said in a speech Sunday night commemorating the 1979 Sandinista revolution in which Ortega helped overthrow the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza.
In his first public appearance in two months, the 80-year-old added: “The days when the Yankees and Somosista-backed parties returned to power are over. They will never return.”
The US State Department did not respond to a request for comment. The Trump administration has labeled Ortega’s government a dictatorship and has imposed sanctions on more than 2,350 Nicaraguan officials and their relatives.
Nicaragua’s last election in 2021 was widely debated after Ortega detained opposition and business leaders and criminalized dissent.
Ortega further strengthened his power last year through a series of constitutional reforms, including appointing his wife Rosario Murillo as “co-president” and extending the presidential term to six years. He and his wife control virtually every aspect of the government, including the military and judiciary.
The United Nations Human Rights Council has accused the Ortega and Murillo governments of turning the country into a “dictatorship” and systematically violating human rights. In 2018, Ortega responded to widespread anti-government protests with a crackdown that left more than 300 people dead.
Analysts and exiled opposition politicians said the declaration highlighted the reality of two-man rule under Ortigas and revealed the couple’s fear that the opposition movement would take hold.
“Ortega and Murillo are clearly frightened by the idea that even the slightest political opening could create a situation where dissent can manifest and threaten their grip on power,” said Tiziano Breda, senior analyst at Armed Conflict Location, Event and Data, a nonprofit that tracks political violence. “Instead of conducting election fraud, they chose to eliminate electoral competition altogether.”
The country has transformed into a “full-fledged family-run dictatorship,” he added.
Opposition presidential candidate Felix Maradiaga, who was imprisoned in Nicaragua from 2021 to 2023 and later exiled to the United States, said he viewed Ortega’s comments more as a “confession of fear” than a show of force.
“Mr. Ortega has publicly acknowledged that it has always been his true intention to prevent his overbearing projects from being exposed to democratic competition in any way,” Maradiaga told Reuters.
Salvador Malenco, coordinator of the Costa Rica-based Nicaraguan Nunca Mas human rights group, said Ortega had already effectively won his competition in previous re-elections in 2011, 2016 and 2021.
And last year’s constitutional reforms had already established a one-party dictatorship in a country that no longer exists, as opposition leaders were ousted.
He said Ortega “is trying to avoid the risk of losing the election because he knows that the people reject him.”
