Rio de Janeiro, Dec. 22, (dpa/GNA) – Nicaragua’s parliament passed a law on Monday which effectively bars people associated with the country’s opposition from standing in next year’s election.
Legislators approved the “Law for the Defence of the Rights of the People to Independence, Sovereignty and Self-Determination for Peace,” the country’s parliament said in a statement.
The law prohibits Nicaraguans who lead or finance a coup, alter the constitutional order, incite foreign interference or promote terrorist acts from running for elected positions, the statement said.
The Central American country was plunged into a political and social crisis in April 2018, when protests against a social security reform expanded and triggered a crackdown by security forces.
Hundreds of people were killed, thousands injured and hundreds jailed, and some 100,000 people left the country.
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has referred to the government opponents who took part in the street protests as “coup plotters” and “terrorists.”
The authoritarian government of the former revolutionary has ruled since 2007. Ortega’s wife, Rosario Murillo, is now vice president.
The government and its supporters have repeatedly taken action against critics and independent journalists.
The elections are scheduled for November next year.
GNA