Ortega declares Nicaragua will hold “no more elections”

President Daniel Ortega has told supporters Nicaragua will no longer hold elections, effectively closing off any path for the opposition to gain power. “There won’t be any more elections here for them to try to seize the government and seize power,” Ortega said Sunday during a speech marking the 47th anniversary of the Sandinista revolution.

Ortega, 80, has ruled Nicaragua since 2007 through elections widely condemned as illegitimate by international observers, including the US State Department. He framed the move as blocking an opposition he claims is controlled by the United States.

The announcement follows a constitutional reform that already pushed Nicaragua’s general election from November 2026 to 2027 and extended presidential terms from five to six years.

The reform has drawn criticism from the UN, the OAS, the US and the European Parliament. Ortega rules alongside his wife, Vice President and co-president Rosario Murillo, whose role the State Department has said was fabricated “without elections, without mandate, and without legitimacy.”