Nicaragua's Ortega says country will no longer hold elections

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has told supporters the country will no longer hold elections, sealing off any electoral path for the opposition to challenge his rule when his current term ends next year.

Ortega said the Central American country will no longer hold elections, eliminating the possibility of an electoral challenge when his term ends next year and further entrenching the rule he shares with his wife Rosario Murillo.

What Ortega actually said

“There won’t be any more elections here for them to try to seize the government and seize power,” Ortega said in a speech on Sunday evening to commemorate the 1979 Sandinista revolution, in which Ortega helped overthrow the US-backed Anastasio Somoza dictatorship.

“The days when parties backed by the Yankees (United States) and the Somocistas would return to power are over – never again,” he added, in the 80-year-old’s first public appearance in two months.

The backdrop

Ortega returned to the presidency in 2007 and has since rewritten the constitution, crushed political opposition and solidified his control over virtually all branches of the Nicaraguan government.

Ortega declared himself the winner of the 2021 election — a vote widely viewed as illegitimate by the international community — after jailing all the candidates who could have possibly beaten him. The U.S. does not recognize Ortega’s presidency.

A United Nations report earlier this year found President Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo, whom he named co-president, eliminated all checks and balances on their power to build an authoritarian state in Nicaragua.

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Washington’s response

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement Tuesday that Ortega’s decision to no longer hold elections “lays bare their true authoritarian nature” and that the Nicaraguan people “have the right to choose their own leaders through democratic elections.” The Trump administration has described the Ortega government as a dictatorship, and imposed sanctions on more than 2,350 Nicaraguan officials and their relatives.

“The United States calls on the international community to join forces to demonstrate to the Murillo-Ortega dictatorship that it cannot expect to maintain business as usual with other nations when it is thwarting the basic tenets of our democratic hemisphere,” Rubio added in the statement.

Expect further sanctions pressure and potential secondary measures targeting entities doing business with Managua. See other news for updates.

Why traders should care

Nicaragua is small in GDP terms, but the move raises the risk premium across Central America and reinforces the trend of authoritarian consolidation in LatAm. That matters for EM debt spreads, remittance flows, and anyone with regional supply chain or nearshoring exposure.

Watch for sanctions escalation, potential asset freezes, and knock-on effects for regional trade partners including Honduras, Guatemala, and Costa Rica.

Options market and stocks to watch

EEM: Broad emerging markets ETF. Watch for any bleed-through if sanctions widen or LatAm risk premiums pick up.

ILF: LatAm 40 ETF. Watch for regional risk repricing as Washington signals a harder line on the Ortega-Murillo government.

WU: Western Union has meaningful remittance exposure to Central America. Watch for flow disruption if sanctions or capital controls tighten.

WAL and NU: Watch regional banking and fintech names with LatAm footprints for any repositioning as geopolitical risk in the region rises.

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