Post electoral: presidential and legislative elections in Nicaragua
Political AnalisysAmid outrage from the opposition and international community, Ortega wins fresh term as President
Nicaragua elected its president and renewed the entire National Assembly for the period 2022-2027. During the next 5 years, the country will continue to be ruled by a Sandinista government with Daniel Ortega at the helm, who with some 75% of the votes secured his fourth consecutive presidential mandate and retained his party’s qualified majority in the Assembly. Election day saw fierce accusations from the opposition over the crackdown on other candidates and reported irregularities at various voting centers, along with a row over the actual voter turnout. Because of this and the various opposition members detained ahead of the elections, part of the international community, with the United States and the European Union at the forefront, described the elections as illegitimate, which will only further isolate and may complicate the new Ortega administration taking office in January 2022.