Nicaragua's legislature debates barring opposition from elections

Nicaragua's government-controlled National Assembly is debating whether to bar opposition parties from running in elections and will vote on the matter in the first week of August.

The move comes just days after President Daniel Ortega said that there "will be no more elections for them [the opposition] to try to seize the government, to seize power".

His remarks were condemned by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk who said that "people of all political viewpoints must be allowed to vote and run for office".

Ortega, 80, has been in power since 2007. His rule has become increasingly authoritarian, with political opponents jailed, sent into exile and stripped of their citizenship.

Ortega made the controversial remarks on Sunday in a speech marking the anniversary of the 1979 Sandinista revolution, when the left-wing group he was part of removed the US-backed dictator Anastasio Somoza from power.

In his speech, Ortega accused the opposition, which he said was financed by the US, of "conspiring, trying to organise parties to try and win an election".

He said laws would be passed "to create a wall, to block the coup mongers", which he said would ensure that "regardless of how much money they are given by the Yankees", they would not seize power.

Among those who condemned Ortega's words was US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

He said they laid bare the "true authoritarian nature" of Ortega's rule.

Rubio added that the Nicaraguan leader and his wife, Rosario Murillo, whom Ortega named as his "co-president" in February 2025, had "abandoned even the pretense of popular consent".

But the head of Nicaragua's National Assembly, Gustavo Porras, dismissed the criticism in an interview with a government-aligned news site.

He said that the legislative body and Nicaragua's highest electoral authority were debating how "to not leave even a crack" for the opposition to establish a foothold.

Presidential elections were last held in Nicaragua in November 2021.

The one-sided contest was won by Ortega following a brutal crackdown on the opposition.

Any rival potential candidates with a chance to garner a significant number of votes were detained and disqualified from standing for office or forced into exile. Dozens of other opposition members were also arrested.

Only a small handful of little-known candidates, who were unlikely to get much support, were allowed to stand.

In November 2025, when Ortega was four years into his five-year term, the National Assembly passed a constitutional reform extending the presidential term to six years.

Under the new system, which was passed unanimously by the National Assembly, Rosario Murillo also became "co-president".

It paved the way for her to assume the role of president should Ortega, who is believed to be in frail health, should be declared "permanently absent".

Few Nicaraguans have dared to speak out in public against Ortega and Murillo since more than 300 people were killed when the security forces quashed anti-government protests in 2018.

Nicaraguan opposition politicians living in exile, however, roundly decried Ortega's latest plans. Juan Sebastián Chamorro said it was proof of Ortega's desire to "turn Nicaragua into a one-party country like China, North Korea, and Cuba".

Felix Maradiaga, a former presidential candidate for the opposition who was jailed under Ortega's rule, told AFP news agency that it showed the leader was afraid of dissent: "Ortega is admitting what most worries him: he hasn't neutralised the opposition, he knows the desire for change is still alive, and is still fighting for the country."

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