Nicaragua’s President Ortega says no more elections, extending his 20-year rule

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has declared that the country will hold no more elections, saying "there won't be any more elections" and "never, never, never" when asked about future votes. The announcement effectively cancels the presidential election scheduled for November 2027 and marks a further step in the consolidation of his rule, which has lasted nearly two decades since he returned to power in 2007, having first led Nicaragua after the 1979 Sandinista Revolution.

Ortega governs alongside his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, who holds the title of co-president. He had already declared himself winner of the widely discredited 2021 election, having jailed potential rival candidates beforehand, which led the United States to refuse to recognise the result. In January 2025, Nicaragua's government-controlled Congress extended the presidential term by a year, and since a 2018 crackdown on mass protests, the government has jailed more than 200 political prisoners (since released to the US, though 46 reportedly remain detained), shut down over 5,000 civil society organisations, and stripped lawyers of their licences. Opposition figures and international observers warn the move signals deepening authoritarianism and further repression to come.