MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Nicaragua introduces constitutional reform granting Ortega additional powers

Ortega and his wife have ruled Nicaragua for years through fudgy elections

Nicaragua's Sandinista Government introduced a constitutional reform on Wednesday, granting the ruling couple of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo additional powers. For starters, Vice-President Murillo has been designated as “co-president” and extends presidential terms from five to six years, as Ortega becomes Supreme Chief of the Army, the National Police, and the Ministry of the Interior.

In addition, it allows the Executive Branch to coordinate legislative, judicial, electoral, and other state bodies while creating a so-called “patriotic reserve military forces” and a “voluntary police,” which international observers view as paramilitary forces.

The initiative has been widely condemned by the United Nations (UN), the Organization of American States (OAS), and the European Parliament, among others.

Other controversial measures include making the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) flag a patriotic symbol and monitoring social media to prevent foreign influence and false news.

The new legislation modified 148 of the 198 articles and repealed 37 others, including the one prohibiting the practice of torture. The amendment establishes that Nicaragua is a “revolutionary”, free, sovereign, independent State, which recognizes the individual, the family, and the community as protagonists of “direct democracy” where revolutionary power is exercised directly by the people through the Presidency of the Republic, which is now made up of a President and a Co-President, who may appoint unelected vice-presidents.

Ortega, 79, has ruled Nicaragua since 2017 along with his wife Murillo amid fudgy elections with all main opposition leaders either in jail or exile.