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Mr. Ortega said on Sunday that the country would no longer hold elections, which were scheduled for next year.\u00a0In his statement, the High Commissioner did not directly address the threat of cancelling the national poll, but broadly deplored Mr. Ortega\u2019s restrictions on political freedoms.<\/p>\n
The co-president\u2019s announcement builds on a series of troubling developments in Nicaragua, where the Government recently revoked lawyers\u2019 credentials with no explanation and currently is detaining 46 individuals arbitrarily for political reasons, according to the UN\u2019s human rights office (OHCHR).<\/p>\n
\u201cThese latest developments further deepen the severe restrictions on fundamental freedoms, the dismantling of civic space, and the steady erosion of the rule of law<\/strong>,\u201d Mr. T\u00fcrk said.<\/p>\n The human rights chief maintained that political dissidents must be released and that they must be allowed to participate in the political process, in line with Nicaragua\u2019s international human rights obligations.<\/p>\n Despite the new threats, political restrictions are nothing new in the Central American country.<\/p>\n Mr. Ortega served as president of Nicaragua from 1985 to 1990, then returned to power in 2007, where he has remained ever since, sharing the presidency with his wife Rosario Murillo since February 2025.<\/p>\n His socialist party, the Sandinista National Liberation Front \u2013 which began as a guerilla group in the early 1960s \u2013 controls parliament, all municipal governments and the North and South Caribbean Coast Regional Councils.<\/p>\n Under Mr. Ortega, the Government has repeatedly granted mining rights without consent from Indigenous Peoples, and there is no freedom of expression, OHCHR underscored.<\/p>\n Last year, Mr. Ortega extended his presidential term by one year, removed key checks and balances, and promoted his wife to the position of co-president \u2013 moves\u00a0UN independent experts mandated by the Human Rights Council\u00a0also condemned.<\/p>\n In 2018, Nicaraguan authorities participated in a bloody crackdown against mass national protests that left more than 300 people dead.<\/p>\n A 2025 OHCHR report documented the dismantling of civil society, restrictive electoral eligibility rules, widespread gender-based violence, serious abuses against detainees and a sweeping constitutional overhaul which included removing prohibitions on torture<\/strong>.<\/p>\n UN Spokesperson St\u00e9phane Dujarric said on Wednesday that Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres is \u201cconcerned about the continued erosion of civic and political space in that country.\u201d<\/p>\nOngoing repression in Nicaragua<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Guterres voices concern<\/strong><\/h2>\n