Sept 1 (Reuters) - Nicaragua's Congress on Tuesday passed a constitutional reform that bans opposition parties from participating in elections and extends the presidential term from six to seven years, an initiative that had previously drawn criticism from the United States and other countries in the region.
The reform, backed by co-presidents Daniel Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo, cleared its first vote in National Assembly. Murillo announced on Monday that the amendment will be ratified in a second vote starting January 18, as Nicaraguan law requires constitutional changes to be approved by two separate legislative sessions before taking effect.
The reform also extends the terms of co-presidents and other elected officials, as well as the heads of the army and police, from six to seven years.
On July 19, Ortega publicly stated that "there won't be any more elections" in Nicaragua to prevent the opposition from "seizing the government" again.
Several Central American countries, as well as Bolivia, Brazil and Chile, criticized Ortega's announcement, considering it a new democratic setback, while the United States urged the international community to isolate the Nicaraguan government and Panama withdrew its ambassador from Managua.
In 2024, the ruling party approved a reform that extended the presidential term from five to six years and elevated Murillo, then the country's vice president, to the position of co-president. It also postponed presidential elections, originally scheduled for the end of this year, until late 2027.
Ortega, a former leftist guerrilla, assumed his fourth consecutive term in January 2022, after winning a controversial election the previous November. Approaching his 81st birthday, Ortega helped overthrow the Somoza family in the late 1970s and, with nearly two decades in power, is the longest-serving leader in the Americas.
Nicaragua has been in a deep political crisis since April 2018, when the government repressed a series of anti-government protests, leaving more than 300 dead and thousands injured and triggering a mass exodus of Nicaraguans.
(Reporting by Gabriela Selser; Writing by Raul Cortes; Editing by Natalia Siniawski and Kylie Madry)
