Nicaragua's Ortega Moves to Abolish Elections, Cementing Family Dictatorship
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has declared his country will no longer hold general elections, in order to prevent opposition groups from seizing power. The statement, delivered during the 47th anniversary commemoration of the 1979 Sandinista Revolution, is the latest sign of the strengthening consolidation of power by the Ortega regime, which has led the country since 2007.
In his speech, Ortega affirmed that the government would work with the National Assembly, which is controlled by his party, to draft new rules to reinforce government power.
“There will be no more elections here so that they (the opposition parties) can try to seize the government, seize power,” Ortega said, as quoted by The Guardian on Tuesday (21/7/2026).
“We need laws that build walls, barriers, against coup plotters and traitors who sell out their country,” he added.
The statement by the 80-year-old leader is seen as a major escalation compared to previous policies that have already eroded democracy in the Central American nation. Ortega and his wife, who also serves as vice-president, Rosario Murillo, have long been accused of narrowing the political space and silencing the opposition.
Tiziano Breda, a senior Latin America analyst at the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED), described the move as confirming Nicaragua’s shift towards an increasingly authoritarian family government.
“With this decision, Ortega and Murillo have cemented the country’s transition towards a full-blown family dictatorship,” he said.
According to Breda, the Ortega-Murillo couple are increasingly worried that even the smallest political space could spark the emergence of an opposition that threatens their hold on power.
“Rather than holding fraudulent elections, they have chosen to eliminate electoral competition altogether,” he said.
Constitutionally, Nicaragua is due to hold elections next year. However, Ortega did not clarify whether the elections would be cancelled entirely or whether the opportunity for the opposition to compete would simply be closed off. In the 2021 elections, his regime had already banned several political parties and imprisoned all opposition presidential candidates before voting took place.
Efforts by Ortega to strengthen his grip on power were also evident in constitutional reforms passed last year. The new rules extend the presidential term of office from five to six years and elevate Rosario Murillo to the position of co-vice-president. The United States has previously described the couple’s rule as the “Murillo-Ortega dictatorship”.
In the same speech, Ortega once again attacked the United States, accusing Washington of conducting an operation against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January.
“With all their might, they stormed the presidential palace… They killed all the security forces there and took them to the United States to be imprisoned. It is horrific,” Ortega said.
Ortega once again justified his hard-line policies, claiming the measures were necessary to confront “coup plotters” whom he said were behind the wave of national demonstrations in 2018.
However, various international organisations, including the United Nations, have documented that the crackdown on those protests killed more than 350 people, wounded hundreds more, imprisoned thousands of citizens, and forced nearly one million residents to flee their homes.