The El Salvador Congress approves a controversial constitutional reform that allows indefinite presidential re -election

On the extension of the presidential term, Figueroa said that “greater stability”, “political and legal security” and “reduce costs” are sought.

However, the opposition deputy Marcela Villatoro, of the Arena party, showed her rejection of the reform when during the parliamentary session she raised a sign that said “this day democracy died”, and told the press that the law was approved “without consultation, in a gross and cynical way.”

In a similar line, Claudia Ortiz, from the political group we are expressed.

“(The reforms only seek) to perpetuate a small group in power and continue accumulating resources and continue accumulating power and leaving people poorer. This story has been told many times in many countries of the world,” he said.

The law also provides that the current presidential period of Nayib Bukele, which began in 2024 and was until 2029, will end in advance on June 1, 2027.

In 2027, then, there will be new presidential elections and will be, in this case, concurrent: that is, they will occur while legislative elections and local elections.

Bukele has not issued expressions about constitutional change.

Indefinite presidential re -election, for experts in the field, can deteriorate democracy as it puts at risk the alternation in power.

Nayib Bukele re -elected himself as president of El Salvador in February 2024 with 82.8% of the votes, despite the fact that the country's constitution expressly prohibited re -election.

For this, the president had the support of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, mostly made up of judges favorable to him, who ordered that the president could be re -elected.

Non -governmental organizations have denounced in recent months an escalation in the repression of critical voices with Bukele in the country and cite as an example of this the arrest of lawyers and activists Ruth López and Enrique Anaya.

“The day before the holidays, without debate, without informing the citizens, in a single legislative vote, they changed the political system to allow the president to perpetuate himself in power indefinitely and follow the trite path of the autocrats,” said Noah Bullock, of the Chrystosal Human Rights Organization, whose members left the Savior recently and were exiled.

For its part, the director for the Americas of Human Rights Watch, Juanita Goebertus, expressed prior to the approval of the project: “They are touring the same path as Venezuela. It begins with a leader who uses his popularity to concentrate power, and ends in dictatorship.”

Bukele began his first term in 2019.

His political career was catapulted by a war against gangs that allowed him to drastically reduce the number of homicides in three years after the implementation of an emergency state that has placed the country among the safest in the world.

However, their methods have been greatly criticized by human rights organizations.

The Bukele administration is accused of the arrest of tens of thousands of people without having enough evidence that they have bonds with gangs, and they are not offered a fair trial.

In addition, it is pointed out that in its detention centers, such as CECOT, the country's maximum security prison, abuse conditions are lived.

The president has said that the emergency will continue as long as necessary and repeatedly has rejected criticism.

“Do you know what? I am not careful that they call me dictator. I prefer that they call me dictator to see how Salvadorans kill in the streets or receive reports of how many dead we take up,” he told La Nación last January.

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