MEXICO CITY (AP) 鈥� Nicaragua’s President said his country won鈥檛 be holding elections anytime soon, a statement underscoring the strongman’s efforts to extend his nearly 20-year rule and dashing hopes by the opposition that he might heed their demands for a democratic vote.
The announcement effectively canceled Nicaragua鈥檚 next elections, originally scheduled for November 2027 after the government-controlled Congress voted in January 2025 to extend the five-year presidential term by one year.
Ortega spoke on Sunday at the anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution that toppled the Somoza dictatorship in 1979 and first brought him to power. He returned to the presidency in 2007 and has since rewritten the constitution, crushed political opposition and solidified his control over virtually all branches of the Nicaraguan government.
Since , which led to a bloody , Ortega and his wife and co-President Rosario Murillo have been holding on to power.
Ortega declared himself the winner of the 2021 election 鈥� a vote widely viewed as illegitimate by the international community 鈥� after jailing all the candidates who could have possibly beaten him. The U.S. does not recognize Ortega鈥檚 presidency.
鈥淭here won’t be anymore elections,鈥� Ortega said in a speech railing on his longtime adversary, the United States. 鈥淧arties put in place by the Yankees, put in place by the Somoza regime, coming back to power 鈥� that story is over.鈥�
“Never, never, never,” he said of any future elections.
Opponents and rights groups said the Sunday announcement represents an escalation as Ortega further solidifies his grip on Nicaragua.
Juan Sebasti谩n Chamorro, a 2021 candidate who was behind bars until with more than 200 other political prisoners, said the announcement reveals Ortega’s longstanding plan to consolidate power in the hands of the Sandinista party, similar to other one-party rule countries like China and Cuba.
鈥淥rtega and Murillo are evidently afraid at the idea that the slightest political opening could create the conditions for dissent to manifest and threaten their grip on power,鈥� said Tiziano Breda, a senior Latin America analyst at independent conflict monitor ACLED.
鈥淚nstead of staging a rigged election, they have opted to eliminate electoral competition altogether,鈥� he added.
Danny Ram铆rez Ay茅rdiz, a Nicaraguan lawyer and founder of the Interamerican Center for Legal Assistance in Human Rights that investigates abuses of the Ortega-Murillo government from Argentina, said the announcement “reveals the face of a dictatorship that, without any shame, has entrenched itself in power.鈥�
鈥淚t indicates a potentially higher level of repression against people who demand the removal of the government or the holding of elections,鈥� Ram铆rez Ay茅rdiz said.
At least 46 people are behind bars in Nicaragua for political reasons, according to the Mechanism for Recognition of Political Prisoners group, which tracks the cases. Nicaragua denies holding political prisoners.
In the wake of the U.S. military operation that captured in a January raid, the Nicaraguan government said it , apparently an effort to stave off pressure on itself.
But there has been no follow-up and little transparency on the issue. At least
In recent years, the government has 鈥� including a number of 2021 presidential candidates 鈥� to the U.S. and Guatemala, stripping many of their Nicaraguan citizenship and belongings.
Those freed described being held in isolation and said they were
Since 2018, Nicaragua has also , largely religious, and forced thousands to flee the country. Earlier in July, the Ortega-Murillo government in what U.N. experts called a 鈥減urge of the legal profession.鈥�
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