Nicaragua: Yes to limiting the opposition

 

TT-AFP

 

Published 02.58

 

The country's President Daniel Ortega in a picture from last year. Photo: Matias Delacroix/AP/TT

Nicaragua's Congress has approved a controversial package of laws that limits the participation of opposition politicians in elections.

The changes come after demands from the country's long-time President Daniel Ortega.

The change extends the president's term of office from six to seven years and excludes anyone deemed to have participated in a "coup attempt or treason" or called for "military intervention".

According to Speaker Gustavo Porras, the measure was approved unanimously.

President Daniel Ortega, together with his wife Rosario Murillo, has ruled the country in turns since 1979, but uninterruptedly since 2007.

Since coming to power, he has crushed the country's political opposition and rewrote the constitution. As recently as January last year, he and Rosario Murillo were given control of the entire state apparatus through an amendment to the constitution.