Nicaragua's President Cancels Elections to Block Opposition Power

Daniel Ortega, President of Nicaragua, declared that no further elections will be held in the country to prevent opposition forces from taking power. Ortega, who has been in office since 2007 and is 80 years old, stated he will collaborate with the parliament, which his party controls, to enact new laws aimed at "building a wall" against the opposition.

This announcement was made during an official ceremony marking the 47th anniversary of the 1979 Sandinista Revolution, which Ortega helped lead to overthrow the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza. Despite a gradual erosion of democracy under Ortega and his wife and co-president Rosario Murillo over recent years, many have described this declaration as an unprecedented escalation in political rhetoric, according to The Guardian.

Tiziano Breda, chief Latin America analyst at the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), commented, "With this decision, Ortega and Murillo have completed the country’s transition to a fully established family dictatorship."

Addressing thousands of government employees, Ortega said, "There will be no more elections here so that opposition parties do not try to seize the government or power." He added that they will work with the National Assembly and relevant institutions to pass laws necessary to "build a wall and barrier against coup plotters and traitors who sell their country."

On Friday, a human rights organization and local media in Nicaragua reported that authorities arrested at least 60 individuals accused of expressing support for the United States' detention of Venezuela’s president.

Although elections were scheduled for next year, Ortega did not clarify whether they would be entirely canceled or if opposition candidates would simply be barred from participating—a practice reportedly already in effect. In the 2021 elections, Ortega's regime banned opposition parties and detained all prominent opposition presidential candidates.

Breda noted that Ortega and Murillo "appear afraid that any political opening, however limited, might lead to an opposition threatening their grip on power, which may reflect the regime’s already weak popular support." He added, "Therefore, instead of organizing rigged elections, they chose to eliminate electoral competition altogether."

Last year, Ortega enacted constitutional amendments extending the presidential term from five to six years and elevated his wife, previously the vice president, to the position of "co-president." The United States describes their government as the "Murillo-Ortega dictatorship."

During his speech, Ortega condemned the United States for a January operation that resulted in the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. He stated, "With all their might, they stormed the presidential palace where Nicolás and his wife, Cilia Flores, were. They killed all the security personnel there, most of whom were Cuban, then took them to the United States to imprison them. It is a brutal act."

Ortega affirmed that preventing the opposition from returning to power is essential to protect the country from "coup plotters," whom he accused of orchestrating the widespread protests in 2018.

According to organizations including the United Nations, Nicaraguan authorities launched a violent crackdown during those protests, resulting in over 350 deaths, hundreds of injuries, thousands imprisoned, and nearly one million Nicaraguans forced into exile.

Recently, the United Nations, the United States, human rights groups, and 30 former heads of state from Ibero-American countries held Ortega and Murillo responsible for the death of Brooklyn Rivera, a 73-year-old indigenous leader and four-term member of parliament, who spent nearly three years "unjustly imprisoned" by the regime, according to the U.S. State Department.

Organizations such as Human Rights Watch report that approximately 50 political prisoners remain in Nicaragua. The regime has revoked the nationality of 546 individuals, shut down over 5,600 non-governmental organizations, 29 universities, and 58 media outlets.