Nicaragua's Ortega Says Country Will 'Never Again' Hold Elections

Move eliminates any path for the opposition to challenge his rule

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said his country will hold no more elections, closing off any legal avenue for the opposition to contest his rule once his current term ends, according to Fox News.

Ortega, who has governed Nicaragua for years alongside his wife and vice president, Rosario Murillo, has steadily dismantled the country's democratic institutions, jailing or exiling opposition figures, independent journalists and civil society leaders in recent years.

The announcement marks a further hardening of one of Latin America's most repressive governments, cementing Ortega's grip on power indefinitely and eliminating even the nominal electoral process that critics had long dismissed as neither free nor fair.

— Compiled from reporting by Fox News.