Nayib Bukele amends the Constitution to allow indefinite presidential reelection

On the afternoon of July 31, while El Salvador commemorated Journalist’s Day amid a climate of systematic harassment and exile for reporters critical of Nayib Bukele, its Legislative Assembly approved a waiver of the procedure for expressly reforming the Constitution to grant the popular president his greatest political ambition: indefinite reelection in a shift — expected, but nonetheless momentous — that consolidates an increasingly autocratic model of power.

Furthermore, the express reforms to articles 75, 80, 133, 152 and 154 of the Salvadoran Constitution, proposed by the deputies of the ruling Nuevas Ideas party, establish an extension of the presidential term to six years (from its current five), and annul the second round in the elections, so that the presidency would be won by majority and the 50% plus one rule would not be necessary, as is currently laid out in the Constitution, in force since 1983.

“Historically, reelection has been permitted in El Salvador for almost all elected offices, without restrictions or specific conditions, and the only exception so far has been the presidency,” argued ruling party representative Ana Figueroa. “Salvadorans will have the power to decide how long they wish to support the work of any public official, including their president,” she added.

The reform to establish a presidential term lasting six years instead of five will be effective from the next elections. Figueroa also said that the express reform seeks greater stability in electoral cycles. “In this way, we are also allowing the country to achieve greater legal security at this time,” she stated.

The decree stipulates that the current presidential term — which began on June 1, 2024 — will end early on June 1, 2027, with the goal of unifying the presidential, legislative, and municipal elections that year.

In El Salvador, elections are held on average every two years due to a staggered electoral calendar that includes different types of votes at different times. Not all public offices are elected at the same time, which responds to a logic of democratic alternation and institutional control. However, this design generates a nearly constant electoral cycle. Bukele has been critical of this system and has proposed reforming it toward a midterm election model, which would concentrate elections every three to six years. His legislators are doing something that leaves open the door to indefinite reelection, a vice shared by Latin American autocrats.

The initiative, included on Thursday’s plenary session agenda — with exemption from formalities and without legislative debate — states that it must be ratified by the current legislature. This is permitted by a constitutional reform endorsed by the current parliamentary group, which has 57 of the 60 votes. Bukele began his second term on June 1 — which his critics called illegal, as several articles of the Constitution prohibited it — following a change of opinion by the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court, which the first legislature dominated by Nuevas Ideas in 2021 appointed in an irregular process.

Opposition representative Marcela Villatoro said the current ruling party representatives “have taken off their masks.” “They have publicly confessed to killing democracy under the guise of legality. This is the chronicle of a death foretold that has been brewing for several years in this Legislative Assembly,” she stated.

An old temptation of Bukele

During his first term, Bukele repeatedly denied that he would seek immediate reelection, citing the constitutional prohibition. “No, there will be no reelection,” he said in 2021. But his position changed after September 3 of that year, when the Constitutional Chamber, composed of judges appointed by his party, reversed the historical criterion and allowed him to run for a second consecutive term.

Based on the Chamber’s ruling, Bukele announced on September 15, 2022, that he would seek reelection in 2024. On October 26, 2023, Bukele officially registered his candidacy with the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, which approved it on November 3 despite challenges from the opposition and constitutional lawyers. Then, on November 30, the Legislative Assembly granted him a leave of absence from office for the last six months of his term, as required by the constitutional article reinterpreted in 2021.

The express constitutional reform concludes a long-anticipated process marked by the legalization of indefinite reelection, a goal Bukele pursued from the beginning of his term. Although he tasked his vice president, Félix Ulloa, with drafting a constitutional reform bill for that purpose, he never needed to resort to it because the institutions complied with his wishes. The reforms were expected to be approved Thursday night by parliament, where Nuevas Ideas holds an absolute majority.

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