Nicaragua’s constitution provides for a directly elected president, and elections are held every five years. Constitutional reforms in 2014 eliminated term limits and required the winner of the presidential ballot to secure a simple plurality of votes. Daniel Ortega was first elected in in 2006.

In 2020, the National Assembly, which is controlled by the Ortega-led Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), passed the Law in Defense of the Rights of the People to Independence, Sovereignty and Self-Determination for Peace, also known as the Sovereignty Law. The law provides authorities a broad framework to arbitrarily detain, investigate, and ban individuals from running for or holding public office. The Ortega regime has used this law to arrest opposition candidates and government critics.

In November 2021, the government announced that Ortega had been reelected, allegedly taking 75 percent of the votes and defeating Constitutionalist Liberal Party candidate Walter Espinoza. Authorities claimed voter turnout was 65 percent, but a local citizen-run election watchdog recorded that turnout was closer to 18.5 percent. The Organization of American States stated that the poll could not meet the criteria for free and fair elections. Ortega was inaugurated to a fourth consecutive term in January 2022.

The constitution provides a 92-seat unicameral National Assembly, with members chosen through proportional representation. Two seats are reserved for the previous president and the runner-up in the most recent election. Legislative elections are held every five years.

Ahead of the November 2021 legislative elections, the government arrested opposition candidates and party members, including those running for seats in the National Assembly. The Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) annulled the legal status of the Democratic Restoration Party, Citizens for Liberty (CxL), and other rivals. Political parties that remained presented no meaningful challenge to the FSLN. The government announced that the FSLN had won 74 percent of the vote and was assigned 75 legislative seats. Election monitoring missions were not allowed to observe the vote.

The CSE and judiciary generally serve the interests of the FSLN and have played a crucial role in strengthening Ortega and the FSLN’s power. In 2021, the National Assembly appointed individuals who maintained ties to Ortega to the CSE’s governing committee. The CSE also employed the Sovereignty Law to ban opposition candidates from running in that November’s legislative elections and from ever holding public office.

Political parties face legal and practical obstacles to formation and operations. Party leaders are easily co-opted or disqualified by Ortega-aligned institutions. Membership in the FSLN is often required to hold civil service positions. Under 2014 constitutional reforms, legislators must follow the party vote or risk losing seats.

Parties can lose their legal status or be stopped from participating in elections. The government has used the Foreign Agents Law (LAE) and the Sovereignty Law, both passed in 2020, to end the legal status of opposition parties and prevent candidates from participating in elections. In October 2023, the CSE barred Yapti Tasba Masraka Nanih Aslatakanka, an Indigenous political party, from participating in future elections.

Opposition candidates and activists are subject to surveillance and harassment at the hands of security forces, police, and paramilitary groups. Some 50 critics, including 7 people who ran for president in 2021, received prison sentences and were disqualified from public office in 2022. Two imprisoned presidential candidates were among the 222 prisoners exiled by the regime in February 2023. In May, as many as 57 people, including opposition members, human rights activists, and journalists, were arrested and accused of spreading “false news” and “conspiracy to damage national integrity.”

Nicaragua’s opposition lacks the opportunity of increasing its support or gaining power through elections, as the government has employed legislation, repression, and outright violence to impede opposition activities. Opposition candidates and activists were arrested en masse in the lead-up to the 2021 elections.

President Ortega controls all government branches and public institutions, as well as the country’s media, granting him and the FSLN significant influence over people’s political choices. Public-sector workers were pressured to keep away from the 2018 antigovernment protests, while security forces and progovernment armed groups have attacked the regime’s perceived opponents.

In July 2023, the National Assembly modified Law 872 and amended Article 97 of the constitution to explicitly make the National Police an arm of the executive, officially stripping it of its status as an apolitical and civilian agency. Under the amended law, police officers who allegedly disobey their superiors or desert can receive prison sentences.

Score Change: The score declined from 1 to 0 because the National Assembly passed a law that effectively brought the national police force more closely under the president’s control and removed its status as an apolitical and civilian agency.

Minority groups, especially Indigenous residents in the Caribbean and eastern regions, are politically underrepresented. The government and FSLN largely ignore their grievances.

In 2021, George Henríquez sought to become the country’s first president of Afro-Nicaraguan descent under the CxL’s banner, though his candidacy was rejected shortly before the CxL was disbanded.

In practice, successful political advocacy by women is generally restricted to initiatives that enjoy the support of the FSLN, which has not prioritized women’s policy concerns.

Ortega and the FSLN dominate most public institutions. The FSLN won an absolute majority of National Assembly seats in the 2021 elections, which were neither free nor fair.

Under 2014 constitutional reforms, President Ortega has a wide degree of discretionary powers to set policy. Executive dominance of the legislature results in a consistent lack of oversight.

Corruption in Nicaragua is widespread but rarely investigated. Allegations of corruption against government officials rarely see thorough investigation or prosecution. Authorities have launched antigraft probes targeting opposition members, often with the aim of delegitimizing or arresting them.

Government operations and policymaking are generally opaque. The 2007 Law on Access to Public Information requires public entities and private companies doing business with the state to disclose certain information. Government agencies at all levels generally ignore this law.

Ortega rarely holds press conferences. The Communications and Citizenry Council oversees the government’s press relations and is directed by Vice President Rosario Murillo—Ortega’s wife—and has been accused of limiting access to information.

The Ortega regime has cracked down on free and independent media and journalists since returning to power in 2007. In 2020, the National Assembly passed the Special Cybercrimes Law (LEC), making criminalizing dissent in traditional news outlets and social media easier.

Ever since, the government has intimidated and arrested journalists, censored media outlets, and worked to deprive print media of essential supplies, including ink and paper. The regime has also targeted foreign outlets. According to a report from the Foundation for Freedom of Expression and Democracy, 1,329 press freedom violations occurred between April 2018 and April 2023, most of them committed by government agencies.

The government’s attacks against the free press continued in 2023. In May, police arrested television journalist Hazel Zamora of the Canal 10 television outlet and accused her of disseminating “false news.” Also in May, authorities accused Víctor Ticay of Canal 10 of treason and spreading “false news.” Ticay, who was originally arrested after posting footage of an Easter celebration on Facebook in April, was convicted in June and received an eight-year prison sentence in August. In July, the government prevented exiled journalist Marcos Medina from traveling to Nicaragua.

Catholic Church officials have been denounced and smeared by authorities for accompanying or defending antigovernment protesters since the 2018 movement was repressed. Progovernment mobs attacked churches where protesters were sheltering, while clergy members received threats and experienced surveillance.

The regime has since continued to target Catholic clergy and restrict religious expression. In February 2023, a court sentenced Bishop Rolando José Álvarez Lagos, an outspoken critic who was arrested in 2022, to 26 years’ imprisonment for charges including treason after he refused to be exiled to the United States. The court also ordered that Álvarez’s citizenship be revoked. In June, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights called for his release. The regime briefly did so, but Álvarez was sent back to prison in July because he reportedly refused banishment; he remained in custody at year’s end.

In August 2023, the regime dissolved the Society of Jesus, better known as the Jesuits, in Nicaragua and confiscated its assets. The Interior Ministry accused the order of violating regulations on nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

Since the 2018 crisis, teachers have experienced harassment from authorities and progovernment groups and must follow the Education Ministry’s strict guidelines. Students at the primary and secondary levels are reportedly required to attend progovernment rallies. Pro-FSLN materials are often displayed in school buildings. Under a 2022 law, the government-controlled National Council of Universities functions as the main academic governing body, limiting academic autonomy.

Authorities have closed institutions of higher education in recent years, with 28 being shut down between late 2021 and the end of 2023. In May, the Immaculate Conception Catholic University of the Archdiocese of Managua was closed. Another two institutions were shuttered in July. In August, the government closed the Central American University (UCA), which was affiliated with the Jesuit order; the judge who ordered the seizure of the UCA’s assets accused the institution of terrorism. In September, the government closed the Central American Institute of Business Administration (INCAE) and seized its assets.

An ongoing campaign of repression and intimidation by state and progovernment forces inspires a general climate of fear and terror that restricts free expression. State and progovernment forces routinely monitor the activities of individuals who oppose the regime. The families of victims of regime violence and people who return from abroad are also monitored and surveilled. Authorities are known to use international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) catchers, which allow operators to intercept the mobile communications of users who unwittingly connect to them.

The LEC criminalized the spread of “false news” and targeted whistleblowing by government employees. The law also gives the government broad access to user data. In 2021, the National Assembly amended the constitution to allow for life sentences for hate crimes; Ortega has referred to opposition activities as such. The government also relies on the LAE and the Sovereignty Law to crack down on opposition activities.

Freedom of assembly has severely deteriorated since 2018, when at least 328 people were killed in a brutal crackdown on antigovernment protests. Most abuses were attributed to the National Police and armed allied groups.

Assembly rights have been restricted since, with authorities stopping Catholic worshippers from holding public processions and surveilling churchgoers attending mass. In February 2023, the regime banned public assemblies celebrating Lent, Good Friday, and Easter. A Panamanian priest who was accused of hosting an Easter procession in late March was expelled from Nicaragua.

Groups critical of the government or focusing on issues like corruption have operated within an increasingly restrictive environment under the Ortega regime. Authorities have targeted NGOs, accusing them of undermining the regime or acting as foreign agents. Human rights groups have reported continued monitoring and surveillance, and have denounced activist repression, including sexual assaults on women activists.

Under an NGO law passed in 2022, the government can rescind the legal status of organizations that “promote campaigns to destabilize” Nicaragua and can seize NGOs’ assets in certain circumstances. In March 2023, the regime ordered the closure of 24 NGOs, including an NGO that provided treatment for women living with cancer. According to Expediente ONG, a coalition of exiled Nicaraguan groups active in Costa Rica, the Nicaraguan regime has closed a total of 3,372 NGOs as of March.

The FSLN controls Nicaragua’s most influential labor unions, and the legal rights of non-FSLN unions are not fully guaranteed in practice. FSLN-controlled unions endorsed Ortega’s 2021 reelection bid.

Nicaragua lacks an independent judiciary. The executive branch strongly influences the nomination of judges, and loyalty to the ruling party determines their appointments; many, if not most judges, reportedly have ties to the FSLN. In the run-up to the 2021 election, the judiciary played a critical role in ordering the arrest of opposition members and ending the legal status of opposition parties. The judiciary has also overseen sham trials of the government’s opponents, with defendants being convicted of “undermining judicial integrity” in closed proceedings.

In October 2023, Vice President Murillo presided over a purge of the judicial branch. At least 900 judges and officials, including Supreme Court of Justice president Alba Luz Ramos, were dismissed.

Since the 2018 protests, the United Nations and human rights organizations have documented rampant due-process violations. Police and progovernment forces have engaged in arbitrary and politically motivated arrests and detentions, while authorities have acted without warrants. Detainees’ locations were not publicized, and individuals have been held incommunicado.

Political prisoners and opposition activists have been denied due process. The 2022 trials against high-profile political prisoners unfolded behind closed doors and under accelerated timelines. Opposition members, human rights defenders, and journalists who were arrested in May 2023 were tried en masse and were not allowed to retain legal counsel of their choosing.

A constitutional amendment and related law passed in February 2023 allow the regime to strip citizenship from “traitors to the homeland.” The regime used this power to strip the citizenship of the 222 prisoners it had unilaterally exiled that same day, while another 94 people had their citizenship stripped later in February. In an October report, the Mechanism for the Recognition of Political Prisoners reported that 91 people were still being held as political prisoners, including 10 detained before 2018.

The 2018 protest movement and subsequent rallies have been met with violent repression by police and informally allied armed forces. Reports from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the relatives of political prisoners have documented severe abuses; detainees face psychological and physical torture, sexual violence, forced confessions, disappearances, significant deterioration of prison conditions, and extrajudicial killings.

In 2022, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated that more than 150,000 Nicaraguans had fled to Costa Rica since 2018. In a September 2023 statement, the OHCHR reported that 45,900 Nicaraguans applied for asylum in Costa Rica between September 2022 and July 2023.

The constitution and laws nominally recognize the rights of Indigenous communities, but those rights have not been respected in practice. Approximately 5 percent of the population is Indigenous and lives mostly in the North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region (RACCN) and the South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region (RACCS). While Indigenous populations have been granted legal rights and protections to land, the government does not enforce these laws.

Attacks against Indigenous populations and land incursions have been perpetrated with impunity in recent years. In 2022, Indigenous representatives reported that they lived at “a high risk of ethnocide” due to mistreatment and the loss of land rights. That same year, the OHCHR expressed concern over violence against Indigenous Nicaraguans and residents of African descent.

LGBT+ people are subject to threats and discrimination, and many, particularly transgender Nicaraguans, have been forced to seek exile.

The 2018 repression against protesters, the 2021 crackdown on political opponents, and continued surveillance and harassment at the hands of police and paramilitary groups have created a climate of fear and mistrust that discourages free movement. Poor infrastructure limits free movement in some majority-Indigenous areas.

In February 2023, the National Assembly amended Article 21 of the constitution and passed a related law allowing the government to strip the citizenship of those deemed “traitors to the homeland.” The 222 prisoners unilaterally released that month lost their citizenship and were rendered stateless. Another 94 people, most of whom were already living in exile abroad, lost their citizenship later in February. In separate incidents in July and August, authorities arrested exiles who returned to Nicaragua.

Score Change: The score declined from 2 to 1 because a constitutional amendment allowed the government to arbitrarily revoke the nationality of citizens it deems “traitors to the homeland.” Hundreds of dissidents were subsequently rendered stateless, preventing them from traveling freely.

Property rights are protected on paper but can be tenuous in practice. Titles are often contested, and individuals with connections to the FSLN enjoy an advantage during property disputes. The Center for Justice and International Law warned in a 2019 report that Miskito communities in the north could be at risk of extinction due to land invasions.

In 2023, the Ortega regime deepened its policy of arbitrarily seizing private assets. Individuals who were deemed “traitors to the homeland” had their property seized by the state. The same occurred to business leaders, the Jesuits, and institutions of higher education including the UCA and the INCAE.

Score Change: The score declined from 2 to 1 due to an increase in the government’s widespread practice of seizing private assets.

Gender-based violence has increased in recent years, and the Network of Women against Violence has claimed that the rising rates of femicides have reached near-epidemic levels. According to Human Rights Collective Nicaragua Never Again, 716 femicides occurred between 2010 and 2020. In November 2023, Catholics for the Right to Decide reported 45 femicides over the year to date.

The 2012 Comprehensive Law against Violence toward Women and subsequent amendments have had little effect on gender-based violence. It also allows for mediation between the perpetrator and victim of sexual violence, despite concerns from rights groups.

Abortion is illegal and punishable by imprisonment, even when performed to save the pregnant person’s life or in cases of rape or incest. Medical practitioners and people who get abortions can be punished with eight-year prison sentences.

Nicaragua is a source country for women and children forced into prostitution; adults and children are also vulnerable to forced labor. In the 2023 edition of its Trafficking in Persons Report, the US State Department reported that the government did little to eliminate human trafficking, did not reliably report on trafficking, and offered no shelters for survivors. The department also noted that labor trafficking was not meaningfully addressed.