Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has proposed extending the presidential term from six to seven renewable years, as part of a sweeping constitutional reform that would also bar opposition figures deemed "traitors" or "coup plotters" from running for office. The draft reform was previewed by Congress President Gustavo Porras and is expected to be approved by the government-controlled National Assembly in September.

The proposal is the latest in a series of constitutional changes that have steadily concentrated power in Ortega's hands. In 2014, presidential term limits were abolished altogether. A 2024 amendment extended the term from five to six years, elevated Ortega's wife, Rosario Murillo, to the role of co-president, and postponed planned elections until late 2027. Now, the 80-year-old — who first returned to power in 2007 after an earlier presidency in the 1980s, and is the longest-serving leader in the Americas — has declared that elections will never be held again, framing them as a vehicle for the opposition to "seize the government."

Ortega, a former Marxist rebel who helped overthrow the right-wing Somoza dictatorship in the late 1970s, has himself drawn comparisons to the dynasty he once toppled. The political crisis in Nicaragua deepened sharply in April 2018, when a crackdown on antigovernment protests led by students and pensioners left more than 300 people dead. Since then, repression has intensified: more than 5,600 civil society organisations and 56 independent media outlets have been shuttered, over 300 journalists driven into exile, and more than 450 people stripped of their citizenship — including activists, lawyers, and politicians. Human rights organisations report 46 political prisoners currently held in conditions described as "horrific."

Human rights monitors and journalists describe Nicaragua — a small Central American nation and one of the poorest in Latin America — as having effectively become a totalitarian surveillance state. Neighbourhood committees monitor residents and report dissent to authorities; digital surveillance is pervasive; and people have been jailed for critical social media posts. The UN human rights office notes that Nicaragua is the only country in the world with no cooperation whatsoever with its office. Foreign journalists are largely barred from entering, except those from countries the government considers allies, such as Russia, Belarus, and China.

Why this matters: Ortega's proposed reforms mark another formal step in the dismantling of Nicaragua's democratic institutions, removing even the possibility of electoral competition. Human rights activists are calling on the international community to increase pressure on the regime, noting that Ortega finances his power through trade agreements with both the United States and the European Union — a contradiction, they argue, that the international community has yet to adequately address.