Nicaragua president announces cancellation of elections

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega announced that the country will not hold elections in order to prevent the opposition from coming to power.

This is reported by The Guardian.

"There will be no more elections here so that they [opposition parties] can try to seize the government, seize power," he said during a ceremony dedicated to the 47th anniversary of the Sandinista revolution, which ended in 1979 with the overthrow of the long-standing dictatorship of the Somoza family.

The president, who has held his post since 2007, said that the authorities will work with the National Assembly and relevant institutions on laws, "because we need laws that will erect a wall, a barrier against conspirators and traitors who betray their country."

Elections were supposed to take place next year, but Ortega did not provide any details on whether they will be canceled or whether the opposition will be banned from participating in them — which has already happened in practice. During the 2021 election campaign, his regime banned parties and imprisoned all opposition presidential candidates.