MEXICO CITY (AP) — Nicaragua’s lawmakers have announced they will follow through on a directive from President Daniel Ortega to do away with elections in the country, drawing a fresh wave of international criticism on Wednesday.
Nicaragua’s congress, which is firmly controlled by Ortega and his wife and co-President Rosario Murillo, released a statement Tuesday announcing the latest changes to the nation’s constitution. The statement claimed the overhaul would guarantee Nicaragua’s “peace, security and stability.”
The congressional announcement follows remarks Ortega made over the weekend in which he declared that “there won’t be anymore elections.” The statement reflects his push to extend his nearly two-decade grip on power while eliminating any possibility of the opposition gaining a foothold.
Ortega’s comments came during a Sunday speech marking the anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution, effectively canceling what had been Nicaragua’s next scheduled election. That vote had been set for November 2027, following a January 2025 decision by the government-controlled congress to extend the five-year presidential term by one additional year.
Under Ortega’s leadership, the government launched a broad crackdown on dissent after violently putting down protests in 2018. Opposition politicians, religious leaders, and other citizens have been imprisoned, and thousands of civil society organizations have been forced to shut down.
The congress has repeatedly rewritten the country’s constitution to consolidate Ortega’s authority and strip away any remaining democratic independence or space for dissent.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk issued a strong condemnation of the developments on Wednesday, stating that “people of all political viewpoints must be allowed to vote and run for office.”
“These latest developments further deepen the severe restrictions on fundamental freedoms, the dismantling of civic space, and the steady erosion of the rule of law,” Türk said in a written statement.
Nicaragua’s government offered no real response to the criticism, issuing only a brief statement that read: “Thank you for your interest.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio weighed in on Tuesday, saying the move by Ortega and Murillo to eliminate elections “lays bare their true authoritarian nature.”
“The United States calls on the international community to join forces to demonstrate to the Murillo-Ortega dictatorship that it cannot expect to maintain business as usual with other nations when it is thwarting the basic tenets of our democratic hemisphere,” Rubio wrote.
Despite strong rhetoric, sanctions, and repeated criticism, the Trump administration has taken few significant actions against Nicaragua’s government. Meanwhile, in nearby El Salvador, President Nayib Bukele — an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump — has similarly rolled back democratic checks and targeted critics, yet the U.S. administration has largely offered praise for that leader.
