Verdict on fundamental freedoms: Nicaraguan parliament approves new constitution, president to control all powers of the state
Kyiv • UNN
Nicaragua's parliament has approved a constitutional reform that establishes a system of co-presidency for the Ortega couple. The changes give them control over all branches of government and extend the presidential term to 6 years.
The Nicaraguan government strengthened the power of President Daniel Ortega when it amended the constitution to give Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo “absolute power.
Transmits to UNN with reference to Prensa Latina.
An amendment to the Constitution, proposed by President Ortega and unanimously approved during the second and final vote by the National Assembly (Parliament) of Nicaragua, establishes that the presidency of the Republic will consist of male and female co-presidents elected by universal suffrage.
The parliamentary communiqué states that the new constitution consolidates the revolutionary state and strengthens the model of direct democracy in which the people are the president.
For reference
Ortega, 79, has been in power since 2007 and has been ruling Nicaragua since 2017 with his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, amid accusations of election fraud and the elimination of the opposition.
Ortega is under Western sanctions for human rights violations.
It is noted that he himself proposed a reform that extends the presidential term of the Central American country from five to six years. This gives the former guerrilla fighter and his 73-year-old wife the power to coordinate the work of all legislative, judicial, electoral and supervisory bodies, which were previously independent under the constitution.
The new Magna Carta defends the revolutionary state against traitors who threaten sovereignty, social justice and peace... We recognize the rights of indigenous peoples and descendants of Africans, we reaffirm and defend the gains of our revolution
The President of the Republic will head the Government and, as Head of State, - they are not called state bodies - control and supervision, regional and municipal, in accordance with the highest interests of the Nicaraguan people and what is established in the Constitution.
In addition to coordinating the legislative, judicial, and electoral “organs,” the President of Nicaragua is also the supreme head of the Nicaraguan army, national police, and interior ministry.
Statement by the UN Human Rights Council Group of Experts
A group of UN human rights experts in Nicaragua on Wednesday condemned that the reforms approved in Nicaragua's Political Constitution are “a death sentence to the rule of law and fundamental freedoms.
Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo have sanctified and consolidated their absolute power... They now control the judiciary, the legislature and the electoral apparatus, with the power to suspend all rights, to use the army in police operations and to use the so-called “voluntary police” as shock troops
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights' Regional Office for Central America expressed in a statement its “deep concern” given that the reform “deepens the setbacks to civil and political freedoms” in the Central American country.