Latin American countries reject Nicaragua's potential election abolition

A potential move to abolish elections in Nicaragua has drawn strong condemnation from several Latin American nations, who are denouncing the decision by President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo.

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In Nicaragua, there will no longer be elections so that they (the opposition) can try to seize the government, seize power through them.

The governments of the Dominican Republic, Chile, Brazil, Bolivia, and Guatemala have all issued statements expressing their rejection of the measure. They view it as a significant blow to democratic principles and the right of the Nicaraguan people to choose their leaders.

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a measure of this nature constitutes an open disregard for the essential principles of representative democracy and the right of the Nicaraguan people to freely elect their rulers through periodic, free, fair, transparent, and pluralistic elections.

President Ortega, who has been in power since 2007, declared on July 19 that Nicaragua would cease holding elections, framing it as a move to prevent the opposition from seizing control of the government. This statement has been met with particularly strong criticism from the Dominican Republic, which described Ortega's declarations as an "open disregard for the essential principles of representative democracy."

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We accuse receipt of the note issued by the Chancellery of the Republic of Chile, its comments which appear interfering regarding our sovereign and dignified political, legal, and institutional processes.

Nicaragua's Foreign Ministry responded to the Dominican Republic's criticism by calling its comments "interfering" and defending the nation's political processes as sovereign. Similar concerns were echoed by Chile and Bolivia, who emphasized that free, periodic, and transparent elections are fundamental to representative democracy and the rule of law in the hemisphere. The escalating diplomatic tensions highlight the growing international isolation of Ortega's government over its democratic backsliding.

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the holding of free, periodic, and transparent elections constitutes an essential element of representative democracy and a pillar of the democratic state of law in the hemisphere.