Ortega Wins Fourth Consecutive Term

Daniel Ortega wins his fourth consecutive presidential term in Nicaragua after jailing most viable contenders (Flickr).

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega was re-elected on November 7 in an election that many world leaders call “an undemocratic sham,” according to NPR. Ortega, who has been in power since 2007, won the election with more than 75 percent of the vote. This win comes despite the backlash he received when his regime jailed seven potential candidates and dozens of journalists and critics, according to Foreign Policy.

This election marks Ortega’s fourth consecutive term, a direct result of his party’s 2014 amendment to the Nicaraguan constitution, which scrapped presidential term limits, according to France24. The LA Times reports that the Nicaraguan government excluded traditional international monitors from presiding over the election and, according to NPR, denied most foreign reporters from entering the country to cover the election. According to France24, critics claim that Ortega’s five electoral competitors were loyalists to Ortega’s Sandinista National Liberation Front party.

Costa Rica, which borders Nicaragua to the south, rejected the election’s validity before the preliminary results were announced, per France24. On election day, thousands of anti-Ortega demonstrators took to the streets in downtown San José, chanting, “Long live a free Nicaragua!” Protests also occurred in Spain, the United States, and Guatemala—countries that are home to thousands of Nicaraguan migrants.

Reuters reports that Carmen Vivas, a Nicaraguan exile who participated in the anti-Ortega march in San José, called the government in Nicaragua a dictatorship, comparing it to Cuba or Venezuela, and said the election does not represent any kind of future for Nicaragua. 

President Joe Biden quickly denounced the election as “pantomime,” claiming that it was neither free nor fair, and undemocratic, according to Reuters. Secretary of State Antony Blinken echoed Biden, adding that the United States is prepared to issue sanctions and visa restrictions against those complicit in endorsing the Nicaraguan election.

According to France24, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whose re-election in 2018 was not recognized by the majority of the international community, congratulated Ortega on his victory.

The slide towards autocratic rule in Nicaragua is not anomalous in the Latin American region. Foreign Policy claims that leaders in Mexico, Brazil, and El Salvador have recently dismantled the freedom of the media, fired judges of top courts, and vowed to disregard election results.

Pivotal presidential elections are on the horizon in Latin America. Venezuela will host regional elections on November 21 and election monitors from the European Union will be present to try to ensure legitimacy. In Chile, 35-year-old former student activist Gabriel Boric is expected to face conservative José Antonio Kast in a run-off after the first round of voting on November 21. Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, accused of rigging the previous election in his favor, is up for re-election on November 28.