THE AUDACITY

El Salvador Prez Says He’s Running for Re-Election Despite Term Limits

A clause in the El Salvador constitution says presidents can’t serve consecutive terms. By packing the country’s supreme court, Nayib Bukele found a way around that.

The president of El Salvador has announced he’ll run for re-election when his first 5-year term is up in 2024, despite the Central American nation’s constitution explicitly stating that presidents cannot serve consecutive terms. Despite this, Nayib Bukele, 41, announced Thursday his plans to seek a seek re-election, having secured permission from the country’s Supreme Court that’s packed with justices he appointed. “After discussing it with my wife Gabriela and my family, I am announcing to the Salvadoran people that I have decided to run as a candidate for the presidency of the Republic,” Bukele said in Spanish on Thursday, El Salvador’s Independence Day. The decision to seek a second term has many on edge in Latin America as Bukele—who’s reportedly already shown authoritarian tendencies—has also been dinged for a slew of human rights violations since he took office in 2019. Despite this, however, Bukele’s approval rating in El Salvador remains around 90 percent, making him the early favorite to win re-election in 2024 and potentially serve as president through 2029.