Daniel Ortega’s announcement that Nicaragua will no longer hold elections is an extraordinary admission. For years, the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship manipulated elections to manufacture legitimacy. Now it has laid bare the political bankruptcy of a regime that no longer even pretends to govern with the consent of the people. Nicaragua belongs to its people, not to a ruling family determined to silence them. Nicaraguans have repeatedly demanded the right to speak freely, organize peacefully, practice their faith, and shape their country’s future. This is also a direct assault on a fundamental democratic principle that the countries of the Americas have collectively committed to uphold: that governments derive their legitimacy from the freely expressed will of their citizens. No decree can extinguish that principle. And no dictatorship can erase the aspirations of a people determined to live in freedom. @NEDemocracy will continue supporting those who peacefully defend fundamental freedoms and the right of every Nicaraguan to choose their own leaders and determine their country’s future. The Ortega-Murillo regime may seek to abolish elections, but it cannot abolish the Nicaraguan people’s desire for democracy. We will stand with them until that right is restored.