The Foundation for Studies for the Application of Law (Fespad) pointed out this Thursday that the ruling that enables President Nayib Bukele to present his candidacy for immediate re-election “lacks constitutional legitimacy.”
(Read also: Fight against gangs and high popularity: this has been Bukele’s 4 years in power)
According to the NGO, the resolution of September 2021 “lacks constitutional legitimacy in form and substance”, since it was “despite the fact that presidential re-election is expressly prohibited by the Constitution.”
Before that resolution, which according to various lawyers should not have general effects since it was not a ruling of unconstitutionality, a president who wanted to run for office again had to wait 10 years.
The constitutionalist magistrates, elected on May 1, 2021 in an expedited process in Congress with a large pro-government majority and without following the guidelines given in the legislation, indicated that a president can govern two consecutive terms.
One of the characteristics of the current government has been the whimsical interpretation of the laws or the use of legal loopholes to carry out actions
In September 2022, Bukele announced that he will seek re-election in 2024, despite the fact that in the past he stated that re-election was not possible in El Salvador. “These actions delegitimize the established legal framework and undermine citizen confidence in institutions and democratic stability,” Fespad said.
(Read also: At least 160 people have died in El Salvador during a state of emergency: report)
He added that “one of the characteristics of the current government has been the whimsical interpretation of the laws or the use of legal loopholes to carry out actions that contravene constitutional principles.”
“It is also a constitutional violation of the regime of exception that has become the security policy of the Government and that has resulted in the denial of the presumption of innocence, the absence of due process and the eradication of judicial independence,” he stressed.
The emergency regime measure has left more than 69,000 arrests, which the Bukele government says are all gang members, and which represent more than 1% of the total population.
In addition, various reports from humanitarian organizations report more than 5,000 complaints of abuses and some 160 people killed in state custody, even with signs of torture.
(You may be interested in: Andrés Guzmán Caballero: the Colombian who entered the Government of Nayib Bukele)
President Bukele celebrates his fourth year of governing the country this June 1 with the so-called “war against gangs” as the flagship to seek re-election, despite constant allegations of unconstitutionality.
EFE
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