On Friday, the Constitutional Chamber of El Salvador’s Supreme Court informed the Supreme Electoral Tribunal that President Nayib Bukele is allowed to run for a second consecutive term in 2024, overruling a 2014 ruling that prevents a head of state from seeking re-election for another ten years.
Controversially, however, the judges who reached last week’s decision were only appointed to their positions in May after the National Assembly, in which the ruling party has a majority, dismissed their predecessors, along with the attorney general. This followed Bukele’s landslide victory in the congressional election in February, through which he transformed his legislative minority into a majority. The electoral tribunal has said that it will follow the Supreme Court’s order, effectively reversing the 2014 ruling that barred immediate re-election.
Opposition member Anabel Belloso, from the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FLMN), denounced the decision, saying, “The state ceased to be at the service of the people and passed to be at the service of one person.”
Likewise, the executive director of the Americas division of Human Rights Watch, José Miguel Vivanco, said the ruling indicates that “democracy in El Salvador is on the edge of the abyss.”
La Prensa Latina reported at least 3,000 Salvadorans took to the streets of the capital city, San Salvador, to voice their displeasure. A number of humanitarian organisations came together to release a joint statement that said: “We express our absolute rejection of the recent arbitrary and authoritarian acts of the Nayib Bukele regime.” The statement added that the ruling New Idea party has “undertaken a series of actions that undermine democracy and dissent in order to consolidate an absolute executive power.”
These concerns have been echoed by the United States (US), with its Chargé d’Affaires to the country, Jean Manes, saying that the ruling is “clearly contrary to the Salvadoran constitution.” She added, “This decline in democracy damages the bilateral relationship between the United States and El Salvador, and the relationship that we've had for decades and want to maintain.”
Furthermore, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price described the decision as “unconstitutional” and said that it “further erodes El Salvador’s international image as a democratic country and trustworthy partner in the region.”
If Bukele emerges victorious in the next election, it would make him the country’s first leader to serve more than five years in office since the 1950s. Moreover, the president is also reportedly preparing to table a constitutional reform that would extend the presidential term from five years to six years and even the ability to revoke the presidential mandate, which could worryingly reset term counters.
The Salvadoran president has frequently come under fire for undermining democratic institutions and judicial independence after coming into power in June 2019 and breaking the monopoly of ARENA and the leftist FLMN, who controlled the country for over three decades.
For example, last February, he ordered the armed forces to storm the Congressional building in order to pressure lawmakers to approve a $109 million loan to the Central American Bank for Economic Integration. This led to arguments that Bukele had blurred the line between the civilian government and the military.
More recently, Bukele has also proposed that all judges over the age of 60 be sacked.
The latest ruling by the Supreme Court has therefore strengthened the resolve of opposition politicians and supporters in claiming that Bukele is leading El Salvador down the path of authoritarianism.
El Salvador Supreme Court Reverses 2014 Ruling, Allows Bukele to Seek Second Term
Controversially, however, the judges who reached last week’s decision were only appointed to their positions in May by the ruling party.
September 7, 2021
IMAGE SOURCE: STANLEY ESTRADA / AFP / GETTY IMAGESSalvadoran President Nayib Bukele