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Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, who has been in power since 2007, has proposed extending the presidential term by another year. <\/b><\/p>\n
The government-controlled National Assembly is expected to approve the extension in September.<\/p>\n
It is part of a proposed constitutional reform which also includes plans to bar members of the opposition deemed by the government to be “traitors” or “coup plotters” from running for office. <\/p>\n
The 80-year-old’s rule has become increasingly authoritarian, with political opponents jailed, sent into exile and stripped of their citizenship.<\/p>\n
During Ortega’s 19 years in power, there have been several changes to the presidential term already.<\/p>\n
In 2014, the country’s National Assembly scrapped presidential term limits and in 2024 it extended the term from five to six years.<\/p>\n
The legislative body also approved Ortega’s plan to name his wife, Rosario Murillo, as “co-president”.<\/p>\n
It thereby paved the way for her to assume as president should Ortega, who is believed to be in frail health, be declared “permanently absent”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n