Nicaragua’s leftist president says no more elections

Nicaragua’s far-left president says his government will stop holding elections, removing even the appearance that voters can peacefully replace the Sandinista regime.

President Daniel Ortega announced the move Sunday night during an event marking the anniversary of the 1979 Sandinista revolution.

“There won’t be any more elections here for them to try to seize the government and seize power,” Ortega said.

Ortega claimed opposition leaders living outside Nicaragua want to form political parties and return to power. He accused them of working for the United States.

The president said Nicaragua’s National Assembly will pass laws blocking those efforts. His Sandinista party controls the Legislature.

Ortega has not explained exactly how his government will end elections. Nicaragua’s next presidential election had been expected in November 2027. Constitutional changes adopted in 2025 extended presidential terms from five years to six years.

Ortega, 80, helped lead the Sandinista revolution that removed dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979. He served as president during the 1980s but lost an election in 1990.

He returned to office in 2007 and has stayed in power ever since.

Recent constitutional changes made Ortega’s wife, Rosario Murillo, co-president. The changes also gave more power under to the couple, including control over the courts and armed forces.

The government had already made genuine elections nearly impossible.

Before the 2021 presidential election, authorities arrested Ortega’s leading opponents. Those detained included people who had planned to run against him. The government also restricted independent news organizations and criminalized much of its political opposition.

Ortega claimed victory with about 76% of the vote. The United States and other governments considered the election illegitimate.

Félix Maradiaga, an opposition leader who was imprisoned and later sent into exile, called Ortega’s latest announcement “a confession of fear.”

Political analyst Tiziano Breda said the announcement confirms Nicaragua has become a “full-fledged, family-run dictatorship.”

The government has also used violence to stop those who oppose it.

More than 300 people were killed during a crackdown on protests in 2018. Thousands of Nicaraguans later fled the country. At least 46 political prisoners reportedly remained behind bars this past spring.

Ortega’s campaign against dissent has allegedly included a sustained attack on Christian churches.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said in May that Ortega’s government had “weaponized laws on treason, sovereignty, and various crimes” to restrict religious freedom.

The commission said Catholic and Protestant churches face severe government restrictions. Authorities have arrested religious leaders, closed religious organizations and followed government critics into exile.

Heartlander News previously reported that Nicaragua released 135 prisoners into exile in 2024 through a deal arranged by the United States and Guatemala. The group included Catholic laypeople and 13 people connected to a Texas-based Christian missionary organization. Three of them were Americans.

Heartlander also reported in 2025 that Ortega’s government viewed the Catholic Church as a political enemy. Christian leaders have been surveilled, detained and forced into exile.

Image: President Daniel Ortega (left). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)