Bukele announces that he will seek re-election in El Salvador in 2024

First modification: 09/16/2022 – 06:34Last modification: 09/16/2022 – 06:31

“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 of the Republic,” said the president in a message broadcast on the national radio and television network by virtue of the 201 anniversary of the country’s independence.

In the 2024 elections, Salvadorans, in addition to electing a president, must vote for a new Legislative Assembly and the municipal councils of the 262 municipalities in the country.

Bukele acknowledged that “more than one developed country will not agree with this decision” to seek the presidency again for another five years.

But “it is not they who will decide, but (…) the Salvadoran people,” said the president who enjoys wide popularity, according to various surveys.

In mid-2021, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) of El Salvador issued a resolution that enables immediate presidential reelection, despite the fact that critics consider that the Magna Carta prohibits it.

Although he enjoys strong domestic popular support, Bukele nonetheless maintains tense relations with the United States, his old ally on the continent.

The president’s already complex relationship with President Joe Biden has become even more entangled since in May 2021, with the help of his allies in Congress, he removed justices from a chamber of the Supreme Court and the attorney general, which it was considered “undemocratic” by the United States.

Right to re-election?

For the Salvadoran president, for a developed nation to criticize him for his decision to seek reelection “would be a hypocritical protest.”

“Practically all developed countries are eligible for re-election,” said Bukele, who read an IMF list of 39 developed countries that are eligible for re-election, among which he mentioned “Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland (…), the United States”.

But Bukele’s bet divides the experts in his country.

According to Eduardo Escobar, executive director of the Acción Ciudadana organization, an NGO that monitors corruption, the Salvadoran president “does not have the right to be re-elected.”

“He cannot seek re-election because the Constitution prohibits him, and (…) to do so is to go against the legal system and not respect the laws, although that is not strange on his part,” Escobar considered before that Bukele’s intention to run for a new term became known.

While on the contrary, former Justice Minister Francisco Bertrand, a respected constitutional lawyer, recently assured that Bukele “is entitled to seek re-election, taking into account the decision of the Constitutional Chamber, which is unappealable.”

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The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) has indicated that it will abide by the resolution of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court and will guarantee that Bukele register, in due time, as a candidate seeking presidential reelection.

After the president’s announcement, people celebrated in different places in the capital, San Salvador, burning firecrackers.