Bukele is Allowed to Enter the Presidential Race for Re-Election in El Salvador

Written by Jose Aguilar | November 5, 2023

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On Thursday of this week, Nayib Bukele registered to run for a second presidential term. According to the CID Gallup, Bukele has an approval rating of 88%, the highest in all of Latin America. This is due in part to the results of the “State of Exception” he implemented in 2022 to address the increase in homicides. Bukele has deployed police and military forces all over the country to “hunt” for gang members of the Pandilla 18 and Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13). Gang-related activities and crime have significantly decreased, but there have also been multiple concerns about his harsh policies, especially about human rights violations and mass arbitrary arrests. Still, Bukele received support from his party, New Ideas (NI), who recently held internal elections to have Bukele as their presidential candidate.  

The legality of Bukele’s registration to participate in the upcoming February 2024 election is still being questioned. Constitutional lawyers in EL Salvador argue that Bukele’s reelection is against the law. But in 2021, the Supreme Court of Justice in El Salvador stated that one of the articles allowed Bukele to run for reelection once. This occurred in the context that Bukele holds informal control of the legislative and judicial branches. Some argue that this is concerning since it eliminates the system of checks and balances. In a country that has a history of internal conflicts and poverty, the “world’s coolest dictator” as Bukele self-identified at some point, offers what the previous administration didn’t do because of corruption or incompetence. Therefore, people in El Salvador are going to support Bukele’s authoritarian policies because that’s when they see the results of addressing some crimes, but some people miss the bigger picture, democracy.