The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, announced this Thursday night, within the framework of the anniversary of the independence of Central America, that He will seek re-election in the 2024 presidential elections.
“After discussing it with my wife, Gabriela, and with my family, I announce to the Salvadoran people that I have decided to run as a candidate for the Presidency in the 2024 elections.“Bukele announced on a national radio and television network.
The president is the first president of the Salvadoran democratic stage with the option of seeking his immediate re-election after a change of criteria made by the magistrates of the Constitutional Chamber that his allies in Congress elected in a widely criticized process.
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In a September 2021 ruling, These judges pointed out that the prohibition of immediate re-election is for a ruler who has been in power for 10 years, while in previous sentences a president had to finish his term of 5 years and wait 10 to seek the Presidency again.
Since then, President Bukele had not commented on the matter until this Thursday.
Surely, surely, more than one developed country will not agree with this decision, but it is not they who will decide, but rather the Salvadoran people.
The president pointed out that the decision to seek re-election is so that “we can continue this path that we have started, the path that for the first time in our history has proven to be the correct one.”
“Surely, surely, more than one developed country will not agree with this decision, but it is not they who will decide but the Salvadoran people,” Bukele pointed out.
And he added: “A free, sovereign and independent people.”
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At the close of the third year of the mandate, Bukele has maintained broad support from the population for his way of governing and, if nothing extraordinary happens by the end of his termit would be enough to win the presidential chair again.
The president pointed out that the decision to seek re-election is so that “we can continue this path that we have started, the path that for the first time in our history has proven to be the correct one.”
“Surely, surely, more than one developed country will not agree with this decision, but it is not they who will decide, but rather the Salvadoran people.Bukele pointed out.
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And he added: “A free, sovereign and independent people.”
At the close of the third year of his term, Bukele has maintained broad support from the population for his way of governing and, if nothing extraordinary happens by the end of his term, it would be enough for him to win the presidential chair again.
Is presidential re-election possible?
In September 2021, that room of the Court ordered the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) to comply with its resolution and “allow” in this case that Bukele “participate in the electoral contest for a second time”, based on an interpretation of an article of the Constitution that according to the opponents to the re-election assure is the one that prohibits it.
“This resolution is not in accordance with the law, the constitutional text has been manipulated and an erroneous interpretation has been made and to the measure (of the president) because re-election is not allowed,” said Eduardo Escobar, executive director of the Acción Ciudadana organization, dedicated to overseeing the corruption.
He recalled that in May 2021, with the help of his allies in Congress, Bukele dismissed magistrates from the constitutional chamber of the Supreme Court, in addition to the attorney general, which was considered by the United States as something “undemocratic.”
After the president’s announcement, Escobar considered, “we are heading to turn El Salvador into another Nicaragua,” referring to the long government of President Daniel Ortega. “Bukele wants to perpetuate himself in power,” warned Escobar.
Despite the fact that, according to polls, he enjoys wide popularity among citizens, the president has also been accused of being authoritarian by opponents and local and international organizations for the defense of human rights.
“If we abide by the resolution of the constitutional chamber of the Supreme Court, the path to re-election is open because it is the interpretation that the chamber has made and in that there is nothing more to do, whether we like it or not,” he considered. political analyst and lawyer Julio Valdivieso.
Can re-election be stopped?
Valdivieso pointed out that for today “it would not be possible to close the space for the re-election” of Bukele, since “legally the chamber (of the Supreme Court) has set a precedent and enables it, and also its resolutions are mandatory.”
According to political analyst Marvin Aguilar, the “only way that re-election can no longer be allowed is for the constitutional chamber itself to “issue a new resolution correcting what was done,” but he considered that “this is not going to happen in this moment”.
“All this is a matter of interpretation of the Constitution, a jurisprudential change was made that perhaps has not been the most correct. It is not illegal because it is established by the highest constitutional court,” Aguilar said.
The decision to seek re-election highlights “the clear intention that Bukele has to retain power at all costs,” said Jaime Guevara, head of the opposition and leftist Farabundo Martí Front for National Liberation (FMLN) in Congress. .
Bukele was part of the FMLN until his expulsion in October 2017, after being singled out for insulting an official from that party.
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EFE and AFP
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