Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega declared on Sunday that the country will hold no further elections, framing the move as necessary to prevent the opposition from seizing power. The 80-year-old authoritarian leader, in power since 2007, stated he would work with the congress he controls to pass laws that would 'build a wall' against the opposition.
Anniversary speech marks escalation
Ortega made the announcement during the official ceremony for the 47th anniversary of the 1979 Sandinista revolution, which he helped lead to overthrow dictator Anastasio Somoza. Speaking before thousands of state employees—whom local media said were coerced into attending—Ortega declared, 'There will be no more elections here so that they [the opposition parties] can try to seize the government, seize power.'
The president, who had not appeared publicly for 61 days, added, 'We will work with the National Assembly and the relevant institutions on laws, because we need laws that build a wall, a barrier, against the coup plotters and the traitors who sell out their country.'
Analysts call it a 'family dictatorship'
Tiziano Breda, Latin America senior analyst at the NGO Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, said, 'With this decision, Ortega and Murillo have sealed the country's transition to a full-fledged family dictatorship.' Breda noted that Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo, who was promoted to 'co-president' last year, 'are evidently afraid of the idea that the slightest political opening could create the conditions for dissent to manifest and threaten their grip on power.'
Elections were due in 2026, but Ortega gave no details on cancellation or opposition participation. In 2021, his regime outlawed parties and jailed all opposition presidential candidates. Breda said, 'Instead of staging a rigged election, they have opted to eliminate electoral competition altogether.'
Constitutional changes and crackdowns
Last year, Ortega pushed constitutional reforms extending the presidential term from five to six years and elevating his wife from vice-president to co-president. The US calls their administration the 'Murillo-Ortega dictatorship.' Ortega also criticized the US for the January operation that captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, calling it 'monstrous.'
Ortega justified ending elections by citing the need to protect the country from 'coup plotters' behind the 2018 protests. According to the UN and other organizations, his regime's crackdown then killed over 350 people, wounded hundreds, jailed thousands, and forced nearly 1 million Nicaraguans into exile.
International condemnation
The UN, US, human rights groups, and 30 former Ibero-American presidents recently blamed Ortega and Murillo for the death of Indigenous leader and former congressman Brooklyn Rivera, 73, who spent nearly three years 'unjustly imprisoned,' according to the US State Department. Human Rights Watch reports about 50 political prisoners in Nicaragua. The regime has stripped 546 people of citizenship and shut down over 5,600 NGOs, 29 universities, and 58 media outlets.
