The Congress of El Salvador, controlled by the governing party, On Thursday night, the president was granted a six-month leave and urged to seek re-election in the February 2024 general elections, despite claims that such a move contradicts the Constitution.
“Grant President Nayib Armando Bukele Ortez a leave of absence for six months from December 1, 2023 to May 31, 2024, to be used without pay and with all the privileges of the position.” He read the decree, which passed with 67 votes from 84 deputies and did not require action.
This marks another instance where a president seeks immediate re-election. It echoes a presidency under certain authority similar to the era of Maximiliano Hernández Martínez in 1935.
Lawmakers also voted to credential Bukele, who did not appear in person to request a license. The move aimed to safeguard immunity, meaning he could not be criminally prosecuted for any complaint without approval from Congress.
The decree, whose effect begins the day after its publication in the Official Gazette, also grants leave to vice president Félix Ulloa, who seeks re-election alongside Bukele on behalf of the ruling Nuevas Ideas NI party. The document states that the license does not sever the bond between the official and the institution he represents, but merely suspends the exercise of powers or public duties required by the office. It further explains that Bukele would no longer perform the administrative functions of the president while maintaining the office and its privileges.
This license completes the sequence laid out by a controversial decision of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court dated 2021, a decision seen by many as obtained by the ruling party without due process. It states that a president running for a second term must request a license within six months before the start of the next term.
Before this shift in criteria, several lawyers argued that the selection of judges did not follow proper legal process. Historically, a president would have to wait ten years after completing the term. In March 2021, prior to becoming president, Bukele himself asserted that the El Salvadoran Constitution restricts immediate presidential reelection.
Rep. Johnny Wright of the opposition Nuestro Tiempo NT party warned before the vote that the license to participate in the campaign was not protected by the Constitution. He noted that the constitution itself forbids immediate reelection, so Bukele’s justification did not fit the standard of a clearly proven serious case. “Power in El Salvador today cannot adhere to or be guided by the rules. The rules are adapted to the government, to deliver us,” Wright said, calling the situation a tragedy for the country, the region, and the world. Claudia Ortiz, a representative from the opposition Vamos party, added, “You cannot license something illegal. The Constitution does not permit it, nor does the law.”
Secretary, the first woman in this position
Congress also approved Claudia Juana Rodríguez de Guevara, Nayib Bukele’s current private secretary, to sit in the presidential chair. The president, meanwhile, continues to focus on his election campaign. As of December 1, Rodríguez de Guevara will become the first woman to hold the presidency of El Salvador in the history of this Central American nation. The decree states, “Citizen Claudia Juana Rodríguez de Guevara is elected in the manner determined by the President for the current presidential term ending May 31, 2024,” and was approved by 84 deputies with 67 votes a favor and 11 against. [Citation: Legislative records, El Salvador]