Nicaragua's Ortega says no more elections will be held

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega declared that elections will cease to be held in the Central American nation. This decision effectively eliminates any possibility of electoral challenges when his current term concludes next year, further solidifying his grip on power, which he shares with his wife.

Ortega, who has been in continuous power since 2007 and previously served as president in the 1980s, stated that this move will shut down all paths for the opposition. He did not provide specific details on how this ban would be implemented. "Elections will no longer be held here where they try to take over the government and seize power," Ortega said in a speech Sunday evening, marking the anniversary of the 1979 Sandinista Revolution.

Ortega, who participated in that revolution and helped overthrow the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza, added, "The time has passed when the Yankee-supported parties and the Somoza supporters could return to power – never again." This was his first public appearance in two months.

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It is clear that Ortega and Murillo fear that even the slightest political opening could create conditions for dissent and threaten their firm grip on power.

The U.S. State Department did not respond to Reuters' request for comment. The Donald Trump administration had previously described Ortega's government as a dictatorship and imposed sanctions on over 2,350 Nicaraguan officials and their relatives. The last elections in Nicaragua, held in 2021, were widely disputed after Ortega arrested opposition politicians and business leaders and criminalized dissent.

Analysts and exiled opposition politicians interpret Ortega's statement as a diversion that highlights the reality of his and his wife's shared rule, while also revealing their fear of an emerging opposition movement. "It is clear that Ortega and Murillo fear that even the slightest political opening could create conditions for dissent and threaten their firm grip on power," said Tiziano Breda, a senior analyst at ACLED, a non-profit organization monitoring political violence. "Instead of organizing rigged elections, they have decided to eliminate electoral competition entirely," he added, describing the country as "a fully developed dictatorship run by one family."

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Instead of organizing rigged elections, they have decided to eliminate electoral competition entirely.