Managua: Nicaragua’s national assembly has approved constitutional reforms, backed by President Daniel Ortega and joint head of state Rosario Murillo, that would largely exclude opposition parties from future elections and extend presidential terms from six to seven years.

The reform package passed its first vote in Congress on Tuesday and is expected to return for ratification in January 2027, in line with Nicaragua’s constitutional procedure. The changes have drawn criticism from the United States and several countries in the region.

The proposed amendments would bar opposition figures, as described by the government as “traitors”, and those involved in alleged efforts to overthrow the government from participating in elections. The reforms would also grant authorities the power to dissolve political parties that receive foreign funding.

The changes would extend the presidential term from six to seven years. Murillo, previously vice president, was elevated to joint presidency in 2025, formalising the joint leadership arrangement with Ortega.

Ortega, who returned to power in 2007 after previously leading Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, has been in office for most of the past two decades. He began his fourth consecutive presidential term in 2022 and is now the longest serving leader in the Western Hemisphere.

The reforms follow years of political tensions in Nicaragua. In 2018, protests, led by students, against the government were met with a crackdown in which more than 300 people were killed, according to figures cited by international organisations. Ortega’s government subsequently detained opposition figures and journalists, closed independent media outlets, and dissolved civil society organisations and opposition groups.

The US has responded by increasing diplomatic pressure. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington would use the Organisation of American States (OAS) to urge countries in the Western Hemisphere to stop conducting “business as usual” with Nicaragua.

The OAS voted in August to convene an urgent meeting of foreign ministers over Nicaragua, describing the situation as a matter of common concern to the American states. Nicaragua, however, withdrew from the organisation in 2023 after repeatedly criticising it.

The constitutional changes now face the final ratification process before they can take effect.