Nicaraguan President: Country will no longer hold elections
- El País
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Daniel Ortega puts an end to the electoral process in Nicaragua: “There will never be another election here”
July 20, 2026
By Wilfredo Miranda Aburto (EL PAÍS)
During the commemoration of the Sandinista Revolution, Ortega announces legal reforms to prevent the opposition from challenging his hold on power and points toward a model of a hegemonic party.
Daniel Ortega made an announcement on Sunday, during the commemoration of the Sandinista Revolution, that effectively buried the last vestiges of democracy in Nicaragua. “There will be no more elections here,” he declared. With that statement, he explicitly ruled out the electoral process as a mechanism for political change ahead of the elections scheduled for November 2027. In addition, he announced that he will work with the Parliament, which he controls, to “put up a wall” against political parties that seek to reach the government through that route.
“Let them forget it! There will be no more elections here so that they [the opposition political parties] can’t try to seize the government or seize power,” Ortega said on July 19, during the ceremony marking the 47th anniversary of the Sandinista uprising that overthrew dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle in 1979.
Although in practice the announcement does not change a reality well known to Nicaraguans—local and national elections have been marred by successive instances of fraud since 2008, according to international election observation organizations—it does represent a rhetorical and political shift. The 2021 presidential elections were already the prime example of a system devoid of competition: Ortega and his wife, co-president Rosario Murillo, imprisoned all opposition candidates with a realistic chance of challenging them for power at the polls and secured 75.92% of the vote.
Added to this is the fact that the co-presidential regime, after banishing all opponents, permanently barred them from running for public office by declaring them traitors to the nation and charging them with other political crimes, leaving only puppet parties under its control. The United States described those elections as a “farce,” while other governments and international organizations refused to recognize their legitimacy.
But now, although he did not specify the details of how this change would take shape, Ortega is pointing toward a model more akin to those of hegemonic-party or permanent-power regimes, such as North Korea and Cuba, where elections exist in name only but do not constitute a real mechanism for contesting power. This new shift directly confronts Washington, which has consistently demanded free elections for Nicaragua.
Juan Diego Barberena, a lawyer and opposition figure in exile, insists that what is new is not that the elections will no longer be free. “For two decades, the right to vote has been violated, but now Ortega is saying that not even the fraudulent elections—the charades they used to organize—will take place,” he states. In the opinion of the lawyer—whose license was recently revoked—the message points to the “perpetuation of power through a dynastic system” and reflects “the absolutist nature” that the regime has gradually taken on.
What Ortega did say is that he will impose restrictions on political parties. He emphasized that he will work with his deputies and political allies in the National Assembly, as well as with the “relevant organizations,” to enact laws “that will put up a wall, a barrier” against any political groups that consider running in elections to take power in Nicaragua. “So, let those parties win the elections… The days when parties backed by the Yankees or the Somocistas would return to power are over. Never, never, never… No matter how much money the Yankees give [to political parties], they won’t be able to, they won’t be able to,” Ortega insisted in his speech.
A one-party system
For Juan Sebastián Chamorro, one of the seven presidential candidates imprisoned by the regime ahead of the 2021 elections, Ortega’s announcement confirms a conception of power that he has championed for years. “He has always maintained that political parties are undesirable because, according to him, they divide societies,” he says. In the economist’s view, the president aims to transform Nicaragua into a one-party system, inspired by models such as China’s.
“Ortega is likely thinking of a system of internal appointments, as in China, where officials are chosen from within the party itself rather than through open electoral competition,” Chamorro explains.
Although for now the opposition is speculating about the model Ortega might impose—as he did previously with the “co-presidency” arrangement to share power and ensure succession alongside his wife—the fact is that this ambition clashes head-on with the policy Washington has maintained toward Nicaragua in recent years. Since the outbreak of the sociopolitical crisis in 2018, the United States has insisted that any resolution must involve the restoration of democracy and the holding of free, competitive elections with international observation.
Last March, the State Department said that its strategy toward the “Murillo-Ortega dictatorship” aims to restore the rule of law and bring about “a change in behavior.” Washington did not specify at the time what new measures it was considering, but framed its warning around monitoring the international support the regime receives and using its diplomatic tools to increase pressure.
The United States noted that since 2018 it has imposed financial sanctions against dozens of officials and entities linked to the government, while keeping other avenues of political, economic, and immigration pressure open. “All options remain on the table,” the spokesperson warned—a deliberately broad statement that avoided ruling out new sanctions, visa restrictions, or other actions against the regime.
For his part, Eliseo Núñez, a political analyst in exile, interprets the announcement as a maneuver to change the rules of any potential future negotiations. “Ortega is creating a fait accompli,” he argues. “If at any point pressure forces him to negotiate, he will no longer be starting from the premise that there are elections in Nicaragua that must be free and competitive. Now the starting point will be that there simply are no elections.”
Núñez agrees with Chamorro on the concept of Chinese “democratic centralism.” However, he warns that even if that model is enshrined in the announced reforms, decisions will continue to depend exclusively on Ortega and Murillo. “Ortega is taking this step convinced that he maintains internal control thanks to economic stability and repression, while he perceives that the United States’ attention is focused on other priorities,” he concluded.
This article has been adapted from the original in Spanish.
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