Opposition leaders have warned that El Salvador is following Venezuela's path towards dictatorship after the country's congress scrapped presidential term limits, allowing Nayib Bukele to seek indefinite re-election. The controversial constitutional reform was approved by 57 votes to three on Thursday night, with Bukele's Nuevas Ideas party controlling 90% of the legislative seats.
Marcela Villatoro, an opposition congresswoman, declared: "Democracy in El Salvador has died." She accused fellow lawmakers of dealing a "death blow" to the democratic system and compared the slide to authoritarianism to Venezuela's collapse. "When all the orders come from one person and everything revolves around one single person, democracy no longer exists," she warned.
The reforms also extend presidential terms from five to six years, move the next election from 2029 to 2027, and scrap a second-round runoff. Suecy Callejas, a Nuevas Ideas lawmaker, defended the move on Twitter, saying: "The constitution isn't untouchable. What should be untouchable is the WILL of the people."
Bukele, a 44-year-old social media-savvy president and ally of Donald Trump, was first elected in 2019 and re-elected last year after a hardline gang crackdown that has dramatically lowered homicide rates. However, the clampdown has seen 2% of El Salvador's adult population jailed and due process suspended, raising concerns about his concentration of power.
Human Rights Watch's Americas director, Juanita Goebertus, compared the move to Venezuela's 2009 referendum under Hugo Chávez, warning: "It starts with a leader who uses his popularity to concentrate power, and it ends in dictatorship." Bukele previously said he would not seek re-election, citing a constitutional prohibition and an agreement with his wife that his current term would be his last. Few believe he will honour that pledge, with exiled Nicaraguan journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro tweeting: "Welcome to the club of the authoritarian dictatorships of Maduro, Ortega, Díaz Canel."
