MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Nicaraguan opposition condemns President Ortega’s re-election appeal

Under current legislation Nicaraguan presidents can be re-elected for a second term if it’s non consecutive

Nicaraguan opposition members in Congress condemned this week a public appeal for constitutional changes by President Daniel Ortega as an attempt to extend term limits and eventually allow the populist leader's re-election.

At a massive celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Sandinista revolution on Sunday, the president and former guerrilla fighter proposed to allow recall elections and criticized presidential term limits for being stricter than other public offices.

“If we are going to be just and fair, let the right to re-election be for all and people with their vote can award or punish,” Ortega told a crowd. “This is the principle that we have to defend.”

Nicaraguan law bars presidents from consecutive terms in office or more than two terms in all. Ortega ended a first stint as president in 1990 and was elected again in 2006 to a five-year term.

Opposition lawmaker Jose Pallais said Ortega's proposals appeared to follow the example of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has expended presidential term limits and powers by public referendum, and President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras, who was ousted by a coup last month over plans for a referendum on a constitutional convention.