El Salvador President Nayib Bukele Registers for His Re-Election Bid, But Critics Say This Is Unconstitutional

El Salvador is about to hold its presidential elections once again, and current President Nayib Bukele has just registered to run. However, his critics are saying this move is unconstitutional.

According to the Associated Press, the El Salvador elections are scheduled to be held in 2024. However, reelection is not allowed under the El Salvador Constitution, though Bukele managed to get the Supreme Court to agree that he can run again.

Despite the El Salvador Constitution clearly saying that the president only allows one 5-year term in office, the country's Supreme Court of Justice found that one of its articles allows the president to run for reelection once. Soon after this proclamation, Nayib Bukele announced that he would be running for a second term in office one year later.

Bukele is running under the New Ideas Party banner once again, with current vice president Felix Ulloa becoming his running mate. The two registered together before the Thursday midnight deadline, with Bukele turning the event of him just handing his candidacy to election authorities into a spectacle.

"We are ready to change whatever we have to change to be able to insert ourselves even more in the community of nations, but always respecting our sovereignty and independence," said the president to his thousands of followers present. Many were chanting "Reelection, reelection" and "Nayib, my friend, the people are with you."

Nayib Bukele Expected To Win El Salvador Elections in 2024

Despite the questions of whether or not his candidacy is legal, Nayib Bukele's followers do not care as he remains a contender and is expected to win the election next year.

"The Salvadoran people want us to continue for 5 more years, making the changes this country needs," he told his supporters who were waiting for him outside the Electoral Authority office.

According to Yahoo! News, the presidential elections are to be held alongside the legislative elections on February 4, 2024. Should the event that no candidate gets over 50% of the votes, a presidential run-off between the top two candidates is scheduled for March 3. Looking at the polls currently, Bukele is expected to win by a wide margin.

The current president's approval ratings in El Salvador are massive, as his crackdown against violent gangs like MS-13 and Barrio-18 has been very popular. These gangs have long terrorized El Salvador and Bukele cracking down against them has been very much welcome for the people. Despite this, human rights groups are decrying his methods, arguing that many arrested under these crackdowns are not actually gang members.

Supreme Court Appointed by Nayib Bukele Allies Ruled He Could Run Again

There had been so much pushback on Bukele running again because Bukele forced many of the older Supreme Court justices to resign and had his allies in Congress appoint judges who would rule more favorably of him.

The Associated Press reported that critics argued that the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court, which found that Bukele could run again, was handpicked by his supporters in Congress. Salvadoran constitutional lawyers argued that despite the pro-Bukele Supreme Court decision, his candidacy would violate at least four articles of the constitution.

This includes Article 154, which states: "The presidential term will be five years and will begin and end on June 1, without the person who has held the presidency being able to continue in their functions even one more day."

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

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