Salvadoral President Nayib Bukele said on Sunday, on social network X, that the constitutional reform which authorizes him to represent himself indefinitely does not mean “the end of democracy” in his country.
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“90% of developed countries authorize the unlimited re -election of their head of government and that does not shock anyone. But when a poor little country, like Salvador, wants to do the same thing, it would be the end of democracy, “he quipped in a message written in English.
“What is problematic is that a poor country dares to act as a sovereign country”.
The Salvador Parliament, overwhelmingly dominated by the supporters of President Nayib Bukele, adopted a constitutional reform abolishing the limit of the head of state and allowing this close ally of Donald Trump on Thursday to stand up indefinitely.
It also provides for the abolition of the second ballot, and the lengthening of the presidential mandate from five to six years.
According to the text, Mr. Bukele’s current mandate will end two years earlier than expected, in 2027 instead of 2029. The president will then be able to represent “without reservations”.
“Democracy died in Salvador […] They fell the masks, ”deplored opposition deputy Marcela Villatoro on Thursday.
Human rights organizations have also denounced this constitutional reform.
The reform “is the blow of grace for democracy in Salvador”, said on Friday in a Cristosal press release, one of the organizations that denounced a “repressive escalation” in the centrameric country.
For Juanita Goebertus of Human Rights Watch (HRW), the Salvador “follows the same path as Venezuela. It starts with a leader who uses its popularity to concentrate power, and it ends with a dictatorship. ”
In power since 2019, Nayib Bukele, who willingly presents himself as a “cool dictator”, had been re -elected in June 2024 with 85% of the vote after being authorized to run for a second term – which was in principle prohibited by the Constitution – by the Supreme Court dominated by judges close to power.
Nayib Bukele, 44, owes his immense popularity in Salvador to his merciless war against the “slumps”, the gangs which terrorized the population. Its particularly muscular measures have reduced violence in the country, once one of the most dangerous in the world, to a historically low level.