Nicaragua’s President Has Announced It Will No Longer Hold Elections, Extending His 20-Year Rule
Ortega wanted to prevent the opposition, which he said is backed by the US, from rising to power.
Nicaragua’s president Daniel Ortega has announced the country will no longer hold elections, saying it is necessary to prevent the opposition from taking power, in a move that cements his grip on the country after nearly 20 years in power.
Ortega leads the left-wing Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), the movement that ended Nicaragua's four-decade US-backed military Somoza dictatorship in 1979.
He led the transitional government until 1990, overseeing land reforms, literacy campaigns and healthcare initiatives that benefited Nicaraguans.
However, Ortega was unable to stabilize Nicaragua’s economy due to US sanctions and a civil war between the government and US-backed paramilitary forces known as the Contras, losing the presidential elections in 1990, 1995 and 2001.
In 2006, Ortega returned to power, toning down his communist message and promising to seek foreign investment.
Since then, he consolidated power and turned the country into what many consider a dictatorship.
He changed the constitution in 2009 to allow him to run for a consecutive term that year, and again in 2016 to allow him a third consecutive term.
During the 2021, his government banned opposition parties and jailed potential opposition presidential candidates.
In 2025, he extended the presidential terms to six years and named his wife, Rosario Murillo, as co-president.
His government has cracked down on independent news outlets and suppressed political opposition, withdrawing from UNESCO in May 2025 after the organization gave its annual Press Freedom Award to an opposition newspaper in the country.
On Sunday, July 19, 80-year-old Ortega announced during a ceremony marking the anniversary of the Sandinista revolution that the country would no longer hold elections, saying he wanted to prevent the opposition, which he said is backed by the US, from rising to power.
"There won't be any more elections here for them to try to seize the government and seize power," Ortega said.
He also said the move was in response to the US operation to illegally abduct Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and blamed “foreign intervention for the nationwide protest in Nicaragua in 2018 that left more than 300 people dead, according to the Guardian.
You Might Also Be Interested In
Cherry Mohamed
Sofia Hou
Kassy Cho
