El Salvador’s Congress gave Bukele a six-month pass to seek immediate re-election

he Congress of El SalvadorThe ruling party-dominated party granted a six-month license to the president on Thursday evening Nayeb BukeleHe asked the president to search for him Immediate re-election In the general elections scheduled for February 2024, despite accusations of its unconstitutionality.

“The license is granted to the President of the Republic, Deputy Armando Bukele OrtizThis is for a period of 6 months from December 1, 2023 to May 31, 2024, which must be exercised Without salary and with all the privileges of the position“, reads the decree that was approved by 67 votes out of 84 deputies and with an exemption from processing.

The last precedent for a president seeking immediate re-election occurred under the dictatorship of Maximiliano Hernández Martinez in 1935.

The organization appointed the president’s private secretary “The President Responsible for the Republic”.

He added: “Elect citizen Claudia Juana Rodriguez de Guevara, to be appointed by the President of the Republic, for the current presidential term, which ends on May 31, 2024.”

Lawmakers also voted for Bukele, who did not appear in person before Parliament Congress To apply for a license, maintain your immunity, therefore They cannot be criminally prosecuted for any complaint Without going through Congress.

This legislative decree takes effect one day after its publication in the Official Gazette Official diaryAs authorized by the Vice President, Felix UlloaWho will seek re-election alongside Bukele for the ruling party new ideas (no).

The document indicates that the license “does not at any time sever the connection between the official and the body he represents, but rather only suspends the exercise of the powers or public function required by his position.”

The decree adds that this means that Bukele “no longer exercises the function or administrative activity required by the position of president, of course without leaving the position of president that he holds and the powers that he enjoys.”

This license is the last condition, set out in a previously disputed ruling Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court For the year 2021 She was chosen by the ruling party without following legal procedures, so that Bukele could compete for a new term in the February 4 elections.

The ruling stipulates that “a president who is running for president for a second presidential term must request the license within the six months preceding” the beginning of the next term.

Before this change in standards, which Many lawyers say this is not a legal mandate Because judges were not elected according to due process, the president had to wait 10 years after the end of his term to run.

In March 2021, before becoming president, Bukele stated that the constitution in El Salvador does not allow for the immediate re-election of the president.

Deputy Johnny WrightHe, from 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 pointed out that the constitution itself prohibits immediate re-election, and therefore Bukele’s justification does not fall within the criteria of being “Serious cause duly established.”

“Today, power in El Salvador does not adapt to the rules or submit to them. The rules adapt to power, to submit to us,” Wright said, adding that this situation “represents a real tragedy for our country, the region and the world.”

For her part, the representative Claudia Ortiz“You cannot give a license to something that is illegal, and you cannot give a license to violate the constitution,” he said, of the opposition Vamos party.

(With information from EFE)