Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega said the Central American country will no longer hold elections, eliminating any path for the opposition to challenge his rule when his term ends next year.
Ortega made the announcement on Sunday during a speech commemorating the 47th anniversary of the 1979 Sandinista revolution. “There won’t be any more elections here for them to try to seize the government and seize power,” the 80-year-old leader declared. “The days when parties backed by the Yankees (United States) and the Somocistas would return to power are over — never again.”
The statement marks a dramatic rhetorical escalation in Ortega’s consolidation of power. While his administration had already effectively crushed electoral competition through prior rigged votes, this declaration formalizes the end of any pretense of democratic process in Nicaragua.
Last year, Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo, pushed through sweeping constitutional reforms that extended the presidential term from five to six years and elevated Murillo from vice president to “co-president.” The reforms also placed Nicaragua’s legislative, judicial, and electoral institutions under direct presidential authority. According to the International Center for Transitional Justice, the changes expanded government influence over the media and allowed either co-president to coordinate all state branches.
Ortega’s pattern of eliminating electoral competition is longstanding. During the disputed 2021 presidential election, authorities arrested all major opposition presidential candidates, business leaders, and journalists before the vote. He and Murillo declared themselves the victors, though international observers and the U.S. State Department rejected the election’s legitimacy.
Analysts say the announcement reveals the couple’s fear that any political opening could threaten their grip on power. Tiziano Breda, a senior analyst at the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data nonprofit, told Reuters: “Ortega and Murillo are evidently afraid at the idea that the slightest political opening could create the conditions for dissent to manifest and threaten their grip on power. Instead of staging a rigged election, they have opted to eliminate electoral competition altogether.”
Felix Maradiaga, a former presidential hopeful who was jailed in Nicaragua from 2021 to 2023 before being expelled to the U.S., described Ortega’s declaration as “a confession of fear.” He told Reuters: “Ortega publicly acknowledged what has always been his true intention: to prevent his tyrannical project from being subjected to any form of democratic competition.”
The U.N. Human Rights Council has accused Ortega and Murillo’s government of transforming Nicaragua “into an authoritarian state” and systematically violating human rights. In 2018, Ortega’s crackdown on anti-government protests killed more than 300 people, according to international human rights groups. The regime has since stripped 546 people of their citizenship, shut down more than 5,600 nongovernmental organizations, and closed 29 universities and 58 media outlets.
The Trump administration has described the Ortega-Murillo government as a dictatorship and imposed sanctions on more than 2,350 Nicaraguan officials and their relatives. The State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the election announcement.
Sources
- Reuters — Ortega’s statement that Nicaragua will no longer hold elections, his tenure since 2007, constitutional reforms extending the presidential term to six years, and analyst commentary from Tiziano Breda and Felix Maradiaga.
- The Guardian — Ortega’s age (80), the announcement during the 47th anniversary ceremony of the 1979 Sandinista revolution, Murillo’s elevation to co-president, and details on the 2021 election and opposition arrests.
- Fox News — Confirmation that Ortega said the country will no longer hold elections, his statement about parties backed by the United States, the 2021 disputed election, constitutional reforms in 2025, and Trump administration sanctions on Nicaraguan officials.
- International Center for Transitional Justice — Constitutional reforms approved in January 2025 extending the presidential term to six years, promoting Murillo to co-president, and expanding government influence over media and state institutions.
