US warns Nicaragua over plans to eliminate elections

The United States warned Tuesday that it "will not stand by" after Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega announced there will be no more elections -- igniting fears over an accelerating slide towards one-party rule.

Ortega, a former leftist guerrilla in power for almost two decades, announced Sunday that "there won't be elections in Nicaragua" that would include parties put forward "by the Yankees," referring to the United States.

The announcement came amid hopes from exiled opposition groups that US and international pressure could push for a democratic transition in the Central American nation.

US President Donald Trump and the international community "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.

"Ortega's pledge to abolish elections in Nicaragua proves his cowardice and fear of the Nicaraguan people's will," Rubio added.

The top US diplomat has pressured Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo, who is co-president, ever since the repression of 2018 anti-government protests left over 300 dead, according to the United Nations.

Washington already applied sanctions on Managua that include visa restrictions for over 2,350 officials and their families. But the crackdown is far from the blockade of Cuba that has left the Caribbean island on the edge of collapse.

Following a constitutional reform that extended the presidential mandate from five to six years, Nicaragua is poised to host general elections in 2027.

His statement led to condemnation from the Organization of American States, which said "the regime has abandoned democracy."

Nicaragua's most recent elections were held in 2021, after the imprisonment of opposition candidates. The ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) scored an unchallenged victory.

The country's opposition is now exiled, while the government -- which concentrated power in the presidency following a 2025 constitutional reform -- has stripped dissident leaders of their nationality and assets.

Opposition leaders interviewed Tuesday by AFP agree 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 now living in the United States, told AFP.

Juan Sebastian Chamorro, coordinator of an exiled political movement, believes Ortega has come forward with his desire to "turn Nicaragua into a one-party country like China, North Korea, and Cuba."

Political opponents say Murillo is purging the government, having imprisoned around 200 former allies. Looming over the crackdown is the failing health of 80-year-old Ortega, who suffers from lupus and kidney failure.

Both accuse the opposition of "betraying the homeland" and seeking to carry out a coup.