Published on 03/09/2026 - 8:31 GMT+2•Updated 8:37

Nicaragua's ruling elite tightened its grip on power this week after the country's National Assembly voted to bar opposition parties from future elections, a move US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has denounced as the final collapse of the country's democratic pretences.

The reform, passed unanimously in a special outdoor legislative session on Tuesday, will formally exclude from office any opposition figures deemed to have taken part in planning or carrying out a coup. It also extends the presidential term from six to seven years, along with the terms of other elected officials and the heads of the army and police.

Tuesday's vote was only the first of two required approvals: Nicaraguan law requires constitutional amendments to clear two separate legislative sessions before taking effect, and co-president Rosario Murillo has said the second vote will begin on January 18.

Rubio said the vote confirmed that Nicaragua's elections could no longer be considered free or fair, describing the National Assembly as "captive" to President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Murillo. In a statement, he said the pair had used the reform to "entrench their illegitimate dynasty" and indefinitely deny Nicaraguans the chance to vote them out.

He went further, calling on other nations to cut off routine dealings with Managua. "Dictatorships that deny the unalienable rights of their citizens should not enjoy the same economic or political benefits as governments committed to defending hemispheric peace and security," Rubio said, urging international partners to "immediately stop business as usual operations with this brutal dictatorship."

Ortega hit back, without naming Rubio directly, casting the United States as an aggressor emboldened by its military strength. Speaking at an event marking the anniversary of the Nicaraguan army, he said: "Simply because it is a global military power, it feels entitled to attack."

He added a defiant message to critics of his government: "To those who constantly threaten us, here you have a people and an army that will never be bought and never surrender."

On 19 July, Ortega had already signalled the direction of travel, declaring publicly that "there won't be any more elections" in Nicaragua, a step he framed as necessary to stop the opposition from "seizing the government" again.

From 2018 protests to one-party rule

The government has long framed its crackdown on dissent as a response to the mass protests of 2018, which it characterises as an attempted coup. Nicaragua has been in a deep political crisis since those protests began in April 2018, when the government's repression of the demonstrations left more than 300 dead and thousands injured according to estimates, triggering a mass exodus from the country.

The fallout has reshaped Nicaraguan political life ever since — thousands of people, including opposition leaders, activists, journalists, intellectuals and priests, were forced into exile in the aftermath.

Ortega and Murillo became co-presidents in 2025 under an earlier round of constitutional changes, a shift that has left the couple in effective control of every branch of government.

This week's reform builds on that consolidation, closing off one of the last formal avenues through which organised opposition could contest their rule — though, it will not be final until the second legislative vote in January.