Nicaragua legislature to vote on barring opposition candidates

Nicaragua's legislature will vote next month on whether to exclude opposition parties from running in elections as requested by President Daniel Ortega, National Assembly chief Gustavo Porras said Wednesday.

Ortega, a former leftist guerrilla in power for almost two decades, had announced Sunday that "there won't be elections in Nicaragua" including dissenting individuals and groups.

The announcement brought a wave of condemnation by governments, NGOs, and exiled political opponents.

The United States "will not stand by as the Murillo-Ortega dictatorship deepens repression at home and manufactures instability that threatens US national security," Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X, referring to Ortega's co-president and wife Rosario Murillo.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, condemned Ortega's initiative on Wednesday and urged his government "to release immediately all individuals who have been arbitrarily detained."

"I call on the authorities to reopen civic space, and restore the rule of law," he said in a statement. "People of all political viewpoints must be allowed to vote and run for office"

Discussions regarding the measure in the National Assembly and Supreme Electoral Council start this Wednesday and will be voted on in the first week of August.

"It is us Nicaraguans who decide when and how we will do our elections," Porras told government-aligned news outlets.

Electoral authorities will define the "elements to not leave even a crack" in elections to prevent "the terrible manipulation of the empires and their lackeys," Porras said in reference to opposition parties.

"This is what will never happen again, that is what comandante Daniel was referring to, never again will there be elections in the hands of the imperialists," Porras said.

Around 300 people were killed in massive anti-government protests in 2018. The crackdown ignited an exodus of hundreds of thousands of Nicaraguans, while the government has jailed hundreds of opponents.

Former leftist guerilla Ortega accused opposition elements during his Sunday speech of being "sellouts" who are working for the United States. He vowed his government will create laws to "put a wall against them, an obstacle for the coup-mongers."

The 80-year-old became first president to lead Nicaragua after the leftist Sandinista revolution toppled the US-backed right-wing regime of Anastasio Somoza in 1979.

Ortega served one term, from 1985 to 1990, before running for election again in 2006. He has been re-elected three times since, in elections condemned for irregularities.

During the last election in 2021, Ortega won in a landslide after his opponents were imprisoned.

Opposition leaders interviewed by AFP agreed that Ortega's announcement is an indication he fears a potential loss in a fair election.

"Ortega is admitting what most worries him: he hasn't neutralized the opposition, he knows the desire for change is still alive, and is still fighting for the country," Felix Maradiaga, an ex-presidential contender and former political prisoner living in the United States, told AFP.

Almost a million Nicaraguans have sought exile in Costa Rica, the United States, and Spain over the last eight years.

Around 500 opposition activists, priests, journalists, and intellectuals -- including early Sandinista figures Sergio Ramirez and Giaconda Belli -- were stripped of their nationality and assets.

Opponents say co-president Murillo, 75, is seeking to maintain power in light of Ortega's failing health. He is being treated for lupus and kidney failure.