Monday, July 20th 2026 - 20:03 UTC
The president announced during the commemoration of the Sandinista revolution that he will pursue legal reforms to prevent the opposition from contesting power through the ballot box
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said on Sunday that the country will no longer hold elections as a mechanism for the opposition to reach power. “There will be no more elections here for them to try to seize the government, to seize power,” he declared during the event marking the 47th anniversary of the Sandinista uprising that overthrew Anastasio Somoza Debayle in 1979, held in Managua.
Ortega, 80, has governed Nicaragua since 2007 and since 2017 has shared power with his wife, Rosario Murillo, named co-president in February 2025 following a constitutional reform pushed by the executive. That amendment extended the presidential term from five to six years and reorganized the structure of the state, meaning the next general elections would in theory be scheduled for November 2027. The reform was criticized by the UN, the Organization of American States, the European Union and the United States.
In his speech, Ortega announced that he would work with the National Assembly —controlled by his party— to pass laws that would “put up a wall” against parties seeking to reach the government through elections. He did not specify how the change would take shape.
