By Ana Isabel Martinez
July 29 (Reuters) – Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega aims to again extend the presidential term by a year, increasing it to seven, in his latest move to cement his longstanding grip on power alongside his wife Rosario Murillo.
A draft constitutional reform sent to Congress on Tuesday evening outlined a proposal for presidential terms of seven “renewable” years, up from six.
A reform last year increased the presidential term from five to six years, pushing elections to 2027.
The latest proposal to extend the presidential term is expected to be approved in September and comes after Ortega said he will stop holding elections in an effort to block the opposition in the Central American nation.
The threat has sparked concern from the United States and international rights organizations.
Congress President Gustavo Porras previewed the content of the presidential term reform on Tuesday, according to several media outlets, though he did not provide many details.
“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.
The proposal also aims to exclude “traitors” and “coup-plotting” opposition members from elections, he said.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Permanent Mission to the Organization of American States (OAS) requested a special OAS meeting to discuss the threat to free and fair elections.
“The Murillo-Ortega dictatorship has escalated drastically the already urgent situation in Nicaragua that has prompted illegal mass immigration and the forced exile of hundreds of thousands of Nicaraguans through the hemisphere,” said a letter requesting the meeting.
CRITICISM AND SANCTIONS
Last year’s presidential term reform also elevated Ortega’s wife Murillo from vice president to co-president – a move criticized by opponents as a plan to keep the presidential family in power indefinitely.
Ortega, a former Marxist rebel, began his fourth consecutive term as president in 2022 amid growing criticism and sanctions from much of the international community, led by the United States and the European Union.
He helped overthrow the U.S.-backed 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 and Gabriela Selser; Additional reporting by Iñigo Alexander and Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by David Holmes and Michael Perry)
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