The figure of “co-president” is the mechanism that devised Daniel Ortega to make his wife’s participation official, Rosario Murilloa source who worked closely with the Nicaraguan regime and is now in exile told Infobae. This Tuesday, the Nicaraguan dictator ordered a broad reform of the Political Constitution of their country to create the figures “co-president” and “co-president”, as new Heads of State of Nicaragua.
Murillo She has served as Vice President since January 2017, although as of January 2022 the Nicaraguan dictator began to informally present her as his “Co-President.”
“He (Ortega) promised Rosario (Murillo) that she was going to be the candidate in the 2026 elections, but since I know him, I don’t see him stepping aside to give that place to her. Well, that was the way he found to fulfill her and keep her happy.“said the source who asked not to be mentioned by name.
“The Presidency of the Republic is made up of a Co-President and a Co-President, who are elected through universal, equal, direct, free and secret suffrage, with those who obtain the relative majority of votes being elected.”, proposes the new reform sent this Tuesday to the National Assembly. “The Presidency of the Republic is the Supreme Headquarters of the Nicaraguan Army, the National Police and the Ministry of the Interior”says the amendment that the Nicaraguan parliament has promised to discuss and approve quickly.
Gustavo Porraspresident of the National Assembly said that Porras said upon receiving the Executive’s proposal that the initiative is a key element to continue advancing in “a transformation led by Nicaraguans”, to “ensure our independence, our self-determination, security and peace.”
For the Nicaraguan political analyst Elysium Núñez“the figure of the co-presidency is, so to speak, in legal terms, innovative, since I have not seen it in any country.”
“It’s really something that is not well defined. What functions does one have and what functions does the other have? It is an issue that has no basis in legal doctrine, although now they have made it legal,” he noted.
The proposal for new reforms to the Constitution remained secret until this Wednesday morning, reaches more than 100 articles and includes changes in the entire functioning of the Nicaraguan State.
This is the 12th partial reform to the Political Constitution that Ortega has promoted since he returned to power in 2007.
The amendment subordinates all powers of the state to the Presidency of the Republic, increases the mandate to six years, instead of five, and constitutionally creates the Volunteer Police.
“The creation of the Voluntary Police legalizes the paramilitaries”, dice Eliseo Nunez. Ortega attributed the violent repression of citizen protests in 2018 to “volunteer police,” which left at least 355 dead, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
Núñez explains that the reform leaves alive the succession mechanism in the event of the death of one of the presidential duo. “If one of the two dies, the National AssemblyThat is to say, a deputy would have to take over because there is no longer a one-person body, which is the body of the Presidency, but now it is a two-person body. So, in the absence of one of them, it requires substitution because it cannot be exercised, according to what it says there, individually.
