The Nicaraguan government is a constitutional democracy divided into four branches: executive, legislative, judicial and electoral. Nicaragua’s Constitution was ratified in January 1987, with reforms in 1995, 2000 and 2005.

Executive power is vested in the President, who is assisted by a Vice President and an appointed Cabinet. The president’s term is five years.

The Legislative Branch is made up of a unicameral 93 member National Assembly. Congressmen and women are not directly elected. The number of seats each party receives in the National Assembly is related to the percentage of votes they get in the general elections. Lawmakers are appointed to their posts off a party list made by the party bosses, who reward those who are loyal to them.

Sandinista and Liberal lawmakers currently control Congress and it’s seven member directorate. A minority voting bloc known as Azul y Blanco is made up of a handful of minority lawmakers loyal to President Bolaños, but with diminishing power in Congress.

Sandinista leader and former revolutionary President, Daniel Ortega heavily influences Nicaragua’s judicial system and much of the Nicaraguan state. The Sandinistas still control more than 80% of the country’s 436 lower judgeships, which are lifetime posts that were awarded to party loyalists during the 1980s.

Until 2002, the Sandinistas also controlled the Supreme Court and the Appeals Tribunals. Now, the higher courts have several judge seats filled by members of the Liberal Constitutional Party – a result of the infamous “pacto” forged in 2002 between Sandinista party boss Daniel Ortega and Liberal boss Arnoldo Alemán.

The terms of the pacto were redefined last year, resulting in an ambitious power-sharing agenda to divide up state institutions as party patronage. In January of 2005, the pacto-controlled Congress passed a series of constitutional reforms aimed at stripping power from the President and passing it to the legislative branch.

Nicaragua is divided into 16 departments and two autonomous regions. The departments are: Boaco, Carazo, Chinandega, Chontales, Estelí, Granada, Jinotega, León, Madriz, Managua, Masaya, Matagalpa, Nueva Segovia, Río San Juan, and Rivas. On the Atlantic coast, are the North Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN) and the South Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAS).