San Salvador (AFP) – The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, asked Congress this Thursday, November 30, for a leave of absence in his last six months in office in order to seek re-election in the February 2024 elections, favored in popularity by his frontal war against the gangs. Congress gave its authorization on Thursday night and determined that Claudia Juana Rodríguez de Guevara, Bukele’s current private secretary, will occupy the Presidency while the president focuses on his electoral campaign.
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In a letter from the Government sent to the Congress of El Salvador, it was requested “that license be granted” to President Nayib Bukele and Vice President Félix Ulloa as of December 1 to seek re-election in elections in which they are favorites, according to the surveys.
The license requested by Bukele and Ulloa runs from this Friday to May 31, 2024, the end date of their five-year terms, said the president of Congress, the ruling party Ernesto Castro.
After reading the letter with the request, the deputies began a debate this Thursday about the request and shortly after approved the license. In addition, they established that Claudia Juana Rodríguez de Guevara, current private secretary of Nayib Bukele, will occupy the Presidency while the president focuses on the electoral campaign.
In September 2021, The Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, through an interpretation of the Constitution, authorized Bukele to seek re-electionwhich generated controversy among opposition sectors that consider the ruling “unconstitutional.”
Exception regime
Bukele’s popularity has grown since March 2022, when he declared a war against the feared gangs that maintained territorial control and financed themselves with extortion, after which the country regained tranquility.
Protected by an exceptional regime that allows arrests without a court order and that is criticized by human rights organizations, Authorities have imprisoned more than 73,000 suspected gang members, but about 7,000 innocent people have been released.
With the ability to communicate his ideas, the 42-year-old president has broken traditional political patterns.
“The Constitutional Chamber qualified him for re-election and in the same resolution it was established that he must leave the Presidency, with permission granted by the Legislative Assembly, six months before the next presidential term,” analyst and criminologist Misael reminded AFP. Rivas.
If Bukele is re-elected, he would have to remain out of the Presidency until May 31, 2024, considered analyst and lawyer Tania Pastor.
“According to the interpretation of the resolution of the (Constitutional) Chamber, he must resume his role as president in June if he is re-elected,” Pastor said.
“Although some consider that the resolution (of the Constitutional Chamber) is not valid, it is unappealable and strictly enforceable and therefore he (Bukele) is eligible to seek re-election,” Pastor noted.
On Tuesday in a radio and television message, Bukele said that on February 4, 2024, the Salvadoran people will decide whether to re-elect him along with Vice President Félix Ulloa for a second term.
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