Nicaragua has launched a consultation process on a constitutional reform that would abolish elections and exclude opposition parties from future voting, Co-President Rosario Murillo announced on Sunday. President Daniel Ortega, in power for nearly two decades, has stated there will be no further elections in the country.
The consultation began on July 27 with a meeting of the diplomatic corps accredited in Managua and will run through the end of August. The reform is expected to be put before the government-controlled parliament for approval in early September, after an initially planned vote was delayed from August. Parliament President Gustavo Porras had earlier indicated lawmakers would vote on legislation barring opposition participation at the start of August.
Ortega and Murillo have governed with sweeping authority since the 2018 protests, whose repression left more than 300 dead according to United Nations figures.