Nicaragua delays vote on excluding opposition parties from elections until September

Nicaragua has postponed until September a legislative vote on measures to exclude opposition parties from elections, co-leader Rosario Murillo said Monday.

The vote had been expected in August, after longtime President Daniel Ortega said earlier this month that dissenting individuals and groups would not contest future elections.

Murillo, who is Ortega's wife, said a special commission drafting the changes would present the proposed constitutional reform to a plenary session with the aim of approving it in the first days of September.

Ortega and Murillo presented the initiative to foreign ambassadors in Nicaragua on Monday. Murillo said the process would first include consultations with the military, police, business leaders, churches and indigenous peoples.

The proposal has drawn international criticism. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X last week that the United States "will not stand by" as what he called the Murillo-Ortega dictatorship deepened repression at home and created instability that threatened US national security.

The European Union condemned what it called "the systemic repression by Nicaraguan authorities" and urged Nicaragua to hold transparent, inclusive and credible elections. Nicaragua's Foreign Affairs Ministry called the EU statement "interventionist" and "imperialist."

Colombia's president-elect Abelardo de la Espriella said he would cut ties with Nicaragua and Cuba after taking office on August 7, saying he would not maintain ties with "tyrants."

Ortega accused the opposition of being pro-US "sellouts" when announcing the electoral initiative, and said he would create laws to put up what he called an obstacle against "coup-mongers."

Ortega, 80, and Murillo, 75, exert near total control over Nicaragua's government. The United Nations has said more than 300 people were killed in the suppression of anti-government protests in 2018. Ortega and Murillo have described those protests as an attempted coup financed by the United States.

Almost a million Nicaraguans have sought exile in Costa Rica, the United States and Spain over the last eight years, according to the source material. Opponents say Murillo is seeking to maintain power as Ortega's health fails; the source material says he is being treated for lupus and kidney failure.