El Salvador’s legislature approved sweeping constitutional changes 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 run-off voting, according to the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador.
Opponents warn that the move concentrates power and threatens democratic institutions, as the changes remove term limits that have long served as a check on executive authority.
New Ideas party lawmaker Ana Figueroa proposed ending Bukele’s current term two years earlier to align the presidential elections and congressional elections on the same schedule. 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 millions of dollars of 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 said 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 added, 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 criticism for keeping a lawyer, who is a critic of Bukele, in jail, which caught the eye of human rights defenders, the AP reported. In the same month, another lawyer of a human rights organization was sentenced 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 found 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 (BTC) strategies.
Last week, a report by The International Monetary Fund (IMF) stated that El Salvador has not purchased any Bitcoin since it signed the $1.4 billion loan deal back in December 2024, where 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 indicates that El Salvador bought 240 Bitcoin after signing 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, according to Bitcoin Office.
El Salvador recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Bolivia’s top bank to bolster Bolivia’s crypto infrastructure and improve the country’s crypto policies.
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