El Salvador approved indefinite reelection for president and extended terms to six years, sparking backlash from critics warning of increasing authoritarianism.
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El Salvador’s legislature approved sweeping constitutional changes, including allowing indefinite presidential reelection, effectively enabling President Nayib Bukele to remain in power beyond his current term.
The package of five reforms, passed in a 57–3 vote by Bukele’s New Ideas party and allies, also extends the presidential term to six years from five and eliminates runoff voting, to the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador.
Opponents warned that the move concentrates power and threatens democratic institutions, as the changes remove term limits that have long served as checks on executive authority.
New Ideas lawmaker Ana Figueroa proposed ending Bukele’s current term two years earlier to align the scheduling of presidential and congressional elections. If approved, Bukele’s current term will end on June 1, 2027, instead of June 1, 2029.
Figueroa went on to say that these changes will save taxpayers’ money. “Each runoff election costs the state approximately $50 million. With those resources, we can build a new hospital and more schools,” she said.
Opponents say democracy is dying
Opposition lawmaker Marcela Villatoro, of the Nationalist Republican Alliance party, was among the three who voted against the proposals. She reportedly the vote marked the death of democracy in El Salvador.
“You don’t realize what indefinite reelection brings: It brings an accumulation of power and weakens democracy … there’s corruption and clientelism because nepotism grows and halts democracy and political participation,” she said, according to the AP.
Suecy Callejas, first vice president of the Legislative Assembly, who is also a member of the New Ideas party, reportedly defended the changes, saying, “Power has returned to the only place that it truly belongs … to the Salvadoran people.”
The constitutional changes come amid broader concerns over democratic backsliding.
In June, Bukele’s government drew for keeping a lawyer who is critical of Bukele in jail, which caught the eye of human rights defenders, the AP reported. The same month, another lawyer of a human rights organization was to six months’ imprisonment pending trial.
Despite international criticism, Bukele remains popular domestically. A recent survey by the University of El Salvador’s Public Opinion Laboratory more than 78% of participants approved of Bukele’s performance during the first year of his second term. A separate poll by Iudop-UCA gave him an 8.15 out of 10 rating for his sixth year in office.
Bitcoin policy draws mixed reviews
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The constitutional changes come as El Salvador’s international image remains mixed, particularly regarding its economic and Bitcoin () strategies.
Last week, a report by The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that any Bitcoin since it signed the back in December 2024, when it agreed to scale back its Bitcoin investments.
That assertion contradicts claims from El Salvador’s official Bitcoin Office, which says the country continues to buy 1 Bitcoin per day.
A June 16 report indicated that El Salvador bought the IMF deal.
Currently, 6,255.18 BTC is held by El Salvador, and the reserve has grown by 31 BTC in the past 30 days, to Bitcoin Office.
El Salvador recently with Bolivia’s top bank to bolster Bolivia’s crypto infrastructure and improve the country’s crypto policies.
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