General elections were held in Nicaragua on 6 November 2016 to elect the President, the National Assembly and members of the Central American Parliament.^[1] Incumbent President Daniel Ortega of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) was re-elected for a third consecutive term amid charges he and the FSLN used their control of state resources to bypass constitutional term limits and hamstring political rivals. The FSLN benefited from strong economic growth and relatively low levels of crime compared to neighbouring countries.^[2]

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2016 Nicaraguan general election

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Presidential election

Candidate Daniel Ortega Maximino Rodríguez Party FSLN PLC Running mate Rosario Murillo Martha McCoy Popular vote 1,806,651 374,898 Percentage 72.44% 15.03%

Ortega   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90%

President before election Daniel Ortega FSLN Elected President Daniel Ortega FSLN

Parliamentary election

90 seats in the National Assembly 46 seats needed for a majority

Party Leader % Seats +/– FSLN Daniel Ortega 65.86 70 +8 PLC Maximino Rodríguez 15.30 13 +11 PLI José Alvarado 6.71 2 −24 ALN Saturnino Cerrato 5.70 2 +2 Conservative Erick Cabezas 4.39 1 +1 APRE Carlos Canales 2.04 1 +1 YATAMA Brooklyn Rivera – 1 +1 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. Results of the legislative election President of the National Assembly before President of the National Assembly after Iris Montenegro Blandón FSLN Gustavo Porras Cortés FSLN

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According to the official results, Ortega was reelected with more than 70% of the votes. However, the election was questioned by the opposition due to the dismissal of sixteen opposition deputies months prior to the election and the complaints of both electoral fraud and voter intimidation.^[2]

Four months before the elections, the Nicaraguan Supreme Court removed the disputed Independent Liberal Party (PLI) leader Eduardo Montealegre from office, decreeing that Pedro Reyes was the leader of the PLI. After 16 deputies from the PLI and its Sandinista Renovation Movement ally objected, the Supreme Electoral Council ordered them removed from the National Assembly and empowered Reyes to select their replacements.^[3][4][5][6]

The president was elected using first-past-the-post voting.^[7]

The 90 elected members of the National Assembly were elected by two methods; 20 members were elected from a single nationwide constituency, whilst 70 members were elected from 17 multi-member constituencies ranging in size from 2 to 19 seats. Both types of election were carried out using closed list proportional representation with no electoral threshold.^[8] A further two seats were reserved for the runner-up in the presidential election and the outgoing president (or their vice president).^[9]

Lists of candidates to the National Assembly and to the Central American Parliament had to be composed of 50% male and 50% female candidates.^[10]

In June 2016 Ortega announced international observers would not be allowed to oversee the elections. The Carter Center termed this "an attack on the international community... We...lament this decision to ignore a key portion of Nicaragua's own electoral law."^[11] However, less than two weeks before the elections, the Organization of American States accepted an invitation to send a delegation "to meet with experts and state bodies involved in the electoral process" from 5–7 November.^[12][13]

According to the official results, Ortega was reelected with more than 70% of the votes. However, the election was questioned by the opposition due to the dismissal of the opposition deputies, the lack of international observers and the complaints of both electoral fraud and voter intimidation.^[2]