Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has announced that the country will no longer hold elections, declaring that the move is necessary to prevent opposition groups from returning to power.

Speaking during celebrations marking the 47th anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution, Ortega said his administration would work with the National Assembly to enact laws that would "build a wall" against opposition groups, whom he accused of being coup plotters and traitors.

"There will be no more elections here so that they can try to seize the government and seize power," Ortega told thousands of state employees gathered for the event.

The 80-year-old leader, who has governed Nicaragua since 2007 after previously serving as president in the 1980s, did not specify whether the 2027 general elections would be cancelled or whether opposition parties would simply be barred from participating.

The announcement follows years of increasing political repression. During the 2021 presidential election, opposition parties were outlawed, while several opposition candidates were arrested and imprisoned before the vote, which was widely criticised by the international community.

Political observers described Ortega's latest declaration as a major escalation in Nicaragua's democratic decline. Tiziano Breda, a senior analyst at the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED), said the move effectively entrenches the country's transition into what he described as a family dictatorship led by Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo, who became co-president following constitutional reforms last year.

In his speech, Ortega defended the decision by accusing opposition groups of orchestrating the 2018 anti-government protests, which his administration has consistently labelled an attempted coup.

However, the United Nations and international human rights organisations have accused the government of violently suppressing the demonstrations, resulting in hundreds of deaths, thousands of arrests and the displacement of nearly one million people.

Ortega also criticised the United States, alleging that Washington carried out what he described as a "monstrous" operation against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

His administration continues to face sustained international condemnation over its human rights record. Rights groups say dozens of political prisoners remain in detention, hundreds of Nicaraguans have been stripped of their citizenship, and thousands of non-governmental organisations, independent media outlets and universities have been shut down under Ortega's government.