In El Salvador, the legality or otherwise of a immediate presidential re-election. On the one hand, the Constitution of El Salvador, which dates from 1983, prohibits it in its articles 88, 152 and 154, and, on the other hand, a ruling by the new Constitutional Chamber enables Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to run again as presidential candidate if he so wanted.
According to four lawyers and constitutionalists interviewed by the voice of americato understand the legality or not of a possible re-election, one must analyze what happened on May 1, 2021, when the new Assembly, with an official majority, dismissed the commanders of the Supreme Court of Justice and the Constitutional Chamber and imposed new faces.
That decision brought with it several changes in the politics of the Central American country, among them that the new Constitutional Chamber opened the way for the immediate re-election of President Nayib Bukele, in case the Salvadorans elected him again as president.
And although the president has not commented on the matter, officials of his government such as Vice President Félix Ulloa and some legislators cheer more and more strongly for a possible presidential re-election.
According to the lawyer and president of the Democracy, Transparency and Justice Foundation (DTJ), José Marinero, the decisions of the new Chamber, including the possibility that the Salvadoran president will compete again at the polls, they have no legal value, since the magistrates who issued it “usurp a position that legally does not correspond to them.”
“The decision to authorize the presidential re-election is an entirely illegitimate decision, it has no legal value and it does not because it comes from a court that is not legitimately constituted,” Marinero told the VOA.
The previous Chamber was dismissed by Bukele’s allies in Congress after analyzing resolutions that, according to the deputies, were against the health and life of Salvadorans. However, the Law of the Judicial Career lists ten grounds for which an official can be removed, and according to the Higher School of Economics and Business (ESEN), “none of the grounds was invoked” in the removal of officials. magistrates.
Now, the new Chamber issues resolutions that, according to the vice president of El Salvador, are mandatory and “calling for them not to be complied with is calling for judicial contempt,” he said publicly two months ago.
“The legitimacy of the Chamber is the core. In the first place, the legitimate Chamber was not dismissed under due process or on grounds previously established in the Constitution or the laws. The dismissal was the product of a conjunctural legislative majority, but that does not mean that it was done in accordance with the law, ”he told the VOA the constitutional lawyer Erika Saldaña.
The dismissal issued by the new Chamber on September 4, 2021 indicates 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 period of five years and wait 10 to seek the presidency again.
But in the opinion of the lawyer Marcela Galeas, it is the Constitution itself that closes the doors for a re-election.
“Although so far President Bukele has not said whether he will be eligible for re-election, but it is the Constitution itself that leaves no room for that to happen,” he added. VOA.
One of the articles of the Constitution cited by the lawyer was article 152, which establishes that “one who has held the Presidency of the Republic for more than six months, consecutive or not, may not be a candidate for the Presidency of the Republic. the immediately preceding period, or within the last six months prior to the start of the presidential term.
President Bukele has already entered his fourth year in office at the head of the Executive, amid high levels of popular approval, hundreds of complaints for human rights violations during the exception regime and with the still unknown of whether or not he will seek re-election, something that has not happened in the country since 1944.
For its part, the Electoral Court, which dictates the rules of the game in the Salvadoran elections, has said that it will abide by the resolutions of the Chamber, and that if President Bukele so wishes, he may participate as a candidate for president for a legally authorized political party. signed up.
In an interview with the VOAthe lawyer and specialist in electoral law Ruth López said that the duty of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal is to evaluate the cases of possible candidates in accordance with the requirements demanded by the Constitution of El Salvador.
“The Court has to carry out a constitutional control of the requirements, it has to evaluate whether the person who is applying meets the requirements legally established in the Constitution,” he said.
Salvadorans would support re-election
The chances that the president will be re-elected seem to be supported not only by the institutions but by the popular majority.
Based on a national survey, the Center for Citizen Studies of the Francisco Gavidia University (UFG) concluded that seven out of 10 Salvadorans would support Bukele’s re-election.
Although the Salvadoran president enjoys wide popularity, he has also faced several demonstrations with thousands of Salvadorans, something that his predecessors did not experience.
Despite the fact that several journalistic reports speak of a government pact with the gangs and that the international community and human rights organizations have described his form of government as “authoritarian”, this does not seem to wear down the image of the president in the eyes of the majority of citizens.
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