Photo credit: Arab News
Nicaragua’s lawmakers said they will carry out a plan by President Daniel Ortega to abolish elections in the Central American country, prompting renewed criticisms Wednesday by the international community.
The Associated Press reports that the move was announced in a statement Tuesday by Nicaragua’s congress, which is firmly in the hands of Ortega and his wife and co-President Rosario Murillo. It said the latest constitutional overhaul will ensure Nicaragua’s “peace, security and stability.”
The legislature was following through on Ortega’s announcement from the weekend that “there won’t be anymore elections,” reflecting both his effort to extend his nearly 20-year rule and remove any chance of the opposition gaining power.
Under Ortega, the government has carried out a sweeping crackdown on dissent following a violent suppression of protests in 2018. Authorities have jailed opposition politicians, religious leaders and others, and also shut down thousands of civil society organizations in the country.
The congress has repeatedly amended the constitution to concentrate power in Ortega’s hands and eliminate any shred of democratic independence and dissent in the country.
Ortega’s remarks on Sunday effectively cancelled Nicaragua’s next elections. The vote was originally scheduled for November 2027 after the government-controlled congress voted in January 2025 to extend the five-year presidential term by one year.
Volker Turk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, on Wednesday sharply condemned Nicaragua’s developments, saying that “people of all political viewpoints ust be allowed to vote and run for office.”
Nicaragua’s government declined to comment on the criticism, saying in a statement, “Thank you for your interest.”
On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the move by Ortega and Murilo to eliminate elections in Nicaragua “lays bare their true authoritarian nature.”
