Ortega says Nicaragua will stop holding elections
Daniel Ortega told supporters that Nicaragua will no longer hold elections, casting the decision as a barrier against US-backed opponents.
By James Whitfield · Staff Writer
3 min read
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said the country will stop holding elections, a declaration that would remove the main formal route for voters to replace his government. Reuters reported that Ortega framed the move as a way to keep the opposition, which he claims is directed by the United States, from taking power.
Ortega, 80, made the remarks on Sunday during an event marking the 1979 Sandinista revolution, according to Reuters. He told supporters that elections would no longer be used by his opponents to try to win control of the government.
Reuters reported that Ortega also said the era of parties backed by “Yankees” and supporters of the former Somoza dictatorship returning to office was finished. His comments marked an explicit rejection of electoral competition in a country where his recent votes have already been challenged abroad.
Years of disputed rule
Ortega has been in power since 2007 after elections that drew international criticism, according to Reuters. His most recent election victory, in 2021, was disputed after his government detained opponents and carried out a broader campaign against dissent.
Critics have accused Ortega of using state power to silence rivals and prolong his rule. Al Jazeera has reported that the government’s actions before the 2021 vote included arrests of opposition figures and pressure on civil society.
Last year, Nicaragua extended the presidential term to six years and named Ortega’s wife, Rosario Murillo, as co-president, according to Al Jazeera. The change further formalized the couple’s joint hold over the state.
UN experts allege repression
The United Nations Human Rights Council has said Ortega and Murillo have built a repressive system. UN experts accused government officials of involvement in arbitrary detention, torture, extrajudicial executions and persecution of civil society and news media.
Ortega also faced broad criticism after a 2018 crackdown on anti-government demonstrations in which more than 300 people were killed, according to Reuters. Since then, his government has stripped hundreds of Nicaraguans of citizenship and pushed others to leave the country out of fear of imprisonment, Al Jazeera reported.
The pressure has also reached former allies. Reuters reported that Ortega has detained many former Sandinista National Liberation Front revolutionaries who once fought alongside him.
From revolution to entrenched rule
Ortega first served as president from 1985 to 1990 after the 1979 overthrow of Anastasio Somoza, the United States-backed dictator. During that first period in office, Ortega pursued leftist reforms in the years after the revolution, according to Reuters.
His return to power in 2007 began a second, much longer period of rule. The latest statement signals that Ortega is no longer presenting elections as part of Nicaragua’s political future, while continuing to describe domestic opponents as tools of Washington.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.