The dictator cancels the ballot: "There will never be elections again in Nicaragua"
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega helped overthrow the dictatorship of the Somoza family, but 47 years later he perpetuates his own family regime - with his wife. After imprisoning rivals, expelling opponents, closing thousands of organizations…
Assessment
Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega has announced that no future elections will be held, cementing a family-run authoritarian regime decades after he helped overthrow a previous dictatorship. With the opposition already crushed, rivals imprisoned, and nearly a million citizens having fled since 2018, this declaration marks the formal end of any pretense of democratic transition. The key question is how the international community will respond now that the path to political change through elections has been explicitly closed.