Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega announced Sunday that the country will not hold elections in the near future, a declaration that underscores his efforts to prolong his nearly 20-year tenure and dims prospects for a democratic vote. The statement effectively cancels Nicaragua’s next elections, which were scheduled for November 2027.

In January 2025, the government-controlled Congress voted to extend the presidential term by one year. Ortega, who first came to power after the 1979 Sandinista Revolution and returned to the presidency in 2007, has systematically rewritten the constitution, suppressed political opposition, and consolidated his authority over government branches.

Since 2018, when mass protests led to a government crackdown resulting in hundreds of deaths, Ortega and his wife and co-president, Rosario Murillo, have maintained their grip on power. In the 2021 election, Ortega declared himself the winner of a vote widely deemed illegitimate by the international community, having imprisoned all potential rivals beforehand. The United States does not recognize Ortega’s presidency.

"There won't be anymore elections," Ortega stated in his speech, directing criticism at the United States. "Parties put in place by the Yankees, put in place by the Somoza regime, coming back to power — that story is over."

Opponents and human rights organizations view Ortega's announcement as an escalation in his consolidation of power. Juan Sebastián Chamorro, a 2021 presidential candidate who was released to the U.S. in 2023 along with over 200 other political prisoners, suggested the move aligns with Ortega's long-term strategy to establish one-party rule, similar to China and Cuba.

Tiziano Breda, a senior Latin America analyst at independent conflict monitor ACLED, commented that Ortega and Murillo appear to fear any political opening that could foster dissent. "Instead of staging a rigged election, they have opted to eliminate electoral competition altogether," Breda said.

Danny Ramírez Ayérdiz, a Nicaraguan lawyer and founder of the Interamerican Center for Legal Assistance in Human Rights, described the announcement as revealing "the face of a dictatorship that, without any shame, has entrenched itself in power." He also indicated it could lead to increased repression against those demanding government change or elections.

According to the Mechanism for Recognition of Political Prisoners group, at least 46 individuals are currently detained in Nicaragua for political reasons, though the government denies holding political prisoners.

In recent years, the Nicaraguan government has released hundreds of imprisoned activists, religious figures, and politicians to the U.S. and Guatemala. Many of these individuals were stripped of their Nicaraguan citizenship and assets. Those freed have reported experiencing isolation and physical and psychological torture during their detentions. Since 2018, Nicaragua has also seen the closure of over 5,000 organizations, primarily religious, and thousands have fled the country. In early July, the Ortega-Murillo government revoked the licenses of numerous lawyers, an action described by UN experts as a "purge of the legal profession."