section_path: Government
section_name: Government
paragraph_text: Government
  
  Politics of Nicaragua takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Nicaragua is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the national assembly. The judiciary makes up the third branch of government.
  
  Since Daniel Ortega 's election in 2006, liberal democratic norms and individual rights in practice have deteriorated, a process known as democratic backsliding. Parties other than the ruling FSLN have been repressed through arbitrary arrest and detention of opposition candidates and activists. Most government jobs de facto require membership in the FSLN. Opposition media has been repressed through arrests of journalists and seizure of broadcasting and printing materials.
  
  Between 2007 and 2009, Nicaragua's major political parties discussed the possibility of going from a presidential system to a parliamentary system. It was argued that the reason for this proposal was to find a legal way for President Ortega to stay in power after January 2012, when his second and last government period was expected to end. Ortega was re-elected to a third term in November 2016, and a fourth in 2021; both elections were tainted by credible reports of large-scale fraud, voter intimidation, and politically motivated arrests of opposition party leaders. Independent observers were barred from the polls. The OAS, United States, and European Union all described the 2021 election as a "sham" due to these issues.
  
  In November 2024, the government presented a partial constitutional reform that established sweeping government changes. The reform defined Nicaragua as a revolutionary socialist state with the flag of the Sandinista National Liberation Front as a national symbol, disallowed transgressions against the "principles of security, peace, and wellbeing established in the Constitution", and declared opponents to these as "traitors to the homeland", whether inside or outside national territory. This reform also increased presidential powers by establishing a co-presidency capable of "coordinating" with other "state organs" such as the legislature, judiciary, and executive. Among other changes, the reform increases the presidential term from 5 to 6 years, establishes a voluntary civilian police as "an auxiliary body in support of the National Police", and limits any speech or religious practices that "violate public order" and constitutional principles.
  
  The reform has been widely criticized by the OAS and opposition figures as officializing repressive practices, eliminating checks and balances, and establishing a "bicephalous dictatorship". It has been condemned as "the most flagrant violation of human rights" since "it is about the constitution". The OAS further criticized the reform as "illegitimate" and as an "aberrant form of institutionalization a matrimonial dictatorship". Other outlets, including the Uruguayan Diálogo Político, have condemned the reforms as installing a totalitarian government.
  
  The partial constitutional reform was passed in the first hearing on November 2024 and the second hearing on January 2025 where the legislature discussed and ratified it on an article-by-article basis, completing its passage by the end of the month.