Salvador, El Salvador (AP) – El Salvador Presidential Party Nayib Bukele On Thursday, it approved constitutional changes in the country’s legislative assembly, which would allow for the re-election of an undetermined president and the expansion of presidential terms to six years.
New Ideas Party MP Ana Figueroa had proposed changes to five articles in the Constitution. The proposal also included elimination of the second round of elections, in which two top voters in the first round, faced off.
The new ideas of the Legislative Assembly and their allies quickly approved the proposal. The vast majority They have. The vote was passed by 57 people, with three opposed.
Bukere He won reelection overwhelmingly last year Constitutional banruling that he would be re-elected for his second five-year term in 2021 after Supreme Court justice chosen by his party.
Observers are concerned that Bukele has plans to consolidate power from at least 2021 when the Congress, which has a strong governing majority, voted. Remove the Magistrate of the Constitutional Office of the Supreme Court. These justices were considered the last checks of popular presidents.
Since then, Bukel has only become more popular. The Biden administration’s first expression of concern replaced a quiet acceptance as Bukele announced his run for reelection. With President Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January, Bukere quickly offered Trump’s help by having a new, powerful alliance and taking over 200 other exiles from other countries to newly built prisons for gang members.
Figueroa claimed Thursday that federal lawmakers and mayors could already seek re-election multiple times.
“They all had the potential to be re-elected through the popular vote. The only exception to this day was the presidency,” Figueroa said.
She also proposed that Bukere’s current term, which is scheduled to end on June 1, 2029, would instead end on June 1, 2027, with the presidential and parliamentary elections being placed on the same schedule. Also, Bukere can seek re-election in the long term two years ago.
Marcela Viratoro of the Nationalist Republican Union (arena), one of the three votes on the proposal, told her fellow lawmakers, “The democracy in El Salvador has passed away!”
“You don’t understand what an indefinite reelection brings. It brings about accumulation of power and weakens democracy… There’s corruption and customerism as nepotism stops and stops democracy and political participation,” she said.
“Power really has returned to where it really belongs… it’s back to the Salvadoran people,” said Sussy Kalejas, vice president of the parliament.
Bukel did not immediately comment.
Once dubbed “the coolest dictator in the world”, Bukel is extremely popular, mainly due to his strong fight against the country’s powerful street gang.
Voters have overlooked evidence that his administration has overlooked before seeking, before negotiating with gangs like others. Emergency situation It halted some constitutional rights and allowed authorities to arrest tens of thousands of people and turn them into prison.
Security and politically his success influenced local copycats who were trying to replicate his style.
Most recently, Bukel’s government has faced international criticism. Arrest of Famous lawyer A candid critic of his administration. One of the most prominent in the country Human rights organizations Announcing in July was that the government was moving operations from El Salvador for the safety of people, accusing the government of a “wave of crackdown.”
