By Ana Isabel Martinez
July 29 (Reuters) – Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega aims to exclude “traitors” and “coup-plotting” opposition members from elections, while also seeking to extend the presidential term from six to seven “renewable” years, according to a draft constitutional reform sent to Congress on Tuesday evening.
Congress President Gustavo Porras previewed the content of the reform on Tuesday, according to several media outlets, though he did not provide many details.
The proposal is expected to be approved in September and follows recent statements by the president that there would be no elections in the Central American nation in order to prevent the opposition from “seizing the government.”
“Our system of government, under the presidency of the people, proposes to be organized with an effective term of seven renewable years,” Porras said as he read the proposal.
CRITICISM AND SANCTIONS
A previous constitutional amendment was passed in 2024 that extended the presidential term from five to six years and elevated Rosario Murillo, Ortega’s wife and then-vice president, to the position of co-president – a move criticized by opponents as a plan to keep the presidential family in power indefinitely.
It also postponed planned elections until late 2027.
The president, a former Marxist rebel, began his fourth consecutive term in January 2022 after winning an election the previous November, amid growing criticism and sanctions from much of the international community, led by the United States and the European Union.
He helped overthrow the right-wing dictatorship of the Somoza family in the late 1970s and has been the longest-serving leader in the Americas since returning to power in 2007.
Nicaragua has been in the midst of a political crisis since April 2018, when Ortega responded to anti-government protests with a crackdown that killed more than 300 people, according to human rights organizations.
(Reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez; Editing by David Holmes)
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