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First modification: 09/03/2026 - 15:24

Nicaragua is moving towards a new constitutional reform that extends the presidential term from six to seven years and restricts the participation of opposition sectors in future elections. The Government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo defends these changes as part of its own model of democracy, while its critics warn of a greater concentration of power and the closing of spaces for political alternation. Is Nicaragua facing the consolidation of an Ortega dynasty? We analyze it.

The constitutional reform, promoted by Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, must pass a second vote to come into force. The ruling party controls the National Assembly and, after the constitutional changes approved in 2024, the Executive Branch acquired new powers over the rest of the State institutions.

Read alsoNicaragua: National Assembly vetoes opponents in the elections and extends the presidential term

Now, the Government maintains that the modifications seek to guarantee elections free of foreign interference, while critics and opposition organizations warn that the new rules could further close the political space and turn the elections into a mechanism for continuity of power for Ortega and his wife.

In this context, we ask ourselves in El Debate on France 24, what implications does this reform have for Nicaraguan democracy and what scenario does it open for the opposition? What type of political system is taking shape in Nicaragua: its own conception of democracy or an institutional structure designed to perpetuate the Ortega-Murillo family in power?

For Félix Maradiaga, professor of Political Science, the constitutional reform represents one more step towards the consolidation of a “family dictatorship”, by restricting the participation of the opposition and concentrating greater powers in Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.

For his part, Adalberto Santana, researcher and doctor in Latin American Studies, defends that Nicaragua has its own forms of democracy, determined by the correlation of forces favorable to Sandinismo and by the political will expressed, according to his interpretation, by the majority of the population.

Nicaragua's political future is thus marked by a reform that must pass a second vote, but that already raises questions about the scope of political participation and alternation in power.

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