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The proposal also expanded the presidential term to six years
from five in a move that further consolidated the family's firm
grip on power.
The initiative was already pushed forward in November and
because Ortega and Murillo’s Sandinista party control the
congress and all government institutions, there was little doubt
it would pass.
Experts say the new constitution, which took effect on Thursday,
was yet another move to guarantee presidential succession for
Murillo and their family and further chip away at the few
remaining balances of powers left after years of democratic
crackdowns. Murillo already wielded significant power over the
government.
Though in an audio published to state media's Instagram page on
Thursday, Murillo declared that the reform “strengthens the
model of people's President, the model of direct democracy.”
The proposals come amid an ongoing crackdown by the Ortega
government since mass social protests in 2018 that the
government violently repressed.
Nicaragua’s government has imprisoned adversaries, religious
leaders, journalists and more, then exiled them, stripping
hundreds of their Nicaraguan citizenship and possessions. Since
2018, it has shuttered more than 5,000 organizations, largely
religious, and forced thousands to flee the country.
The Thursday measure quickly fueled a new round of criticism
from the government with Reed Brody, an American human rights
lawyer and member of a group of UN experts on the Central
American country saying it was yet another expansion of the
family's power in a post on the social media platform X.
“Nicaragua’s grotesque Constitutional reforms sound the death
knell for the rule of law and basic freedoms,” he wrote.
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