They criticize the ruling that allows immediate reelection in El Salvador, what does it mean for Bukele?

The Salvadoran Supreme Electoral Court announced on Saturday that it

will comply with the judicial resolution that enables the presidential re-election

in the Central American country, a decision that opens the doors for the current president, Nayib Bukele, to seek re-election in the 2024 general elections.

"The highest electoral body of the Republic will abide by the provisions issued by the highest court of the country in constitutional matters, which establish the option of registration of the President of the Republic for a second term," the court said in a statement.

The body added that registration would be allowed if the person holding the presidency

"so wishes and if a legally registered political party nominates him

for said position."

Free way for the immediate re-election of Nayib Bukele in El Salvador

Sept.

4, 202100: 43

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Until now, Salvadoran presidents could not revalidate their mandate consecutively, but had to wait two legislatures, that is, 10 years.

As in the previous legislature, the presidency was held by Salvador Sánchez Cerén (2014-2019), of the leftist Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN),

Bukele has the option of running again.

The court ruling generated a wave of favorable reactions from the president's followers, although several analysts criticized the decision and opponents expressed their resounding rejection.

But Bukele, who is used to reacting immediately to what is happening in the country with publications on social networks, has not yet commented on the issue.

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Criticism for reelection

Lawyer Eduardo Escobar, executive director of Acción Ciudadana, a non-profit institution, told The Associated Press that the court's rulings are mandatory, “as long as they are pronounced by people who are entitled to hold the position and

these lawyers who are practicing were illegally imposed

”, by the current president.

Escobar affirms that the Government will make the resolution prevail to allow Bukele to be reelected.

“

That was the move I wanted to make by dominating all the powers of the State.

He can do what he wants and who is going to oppose it if everyone is in his favor, right? "Said a Salvadoran woman interviewed by Noticias Telemundo.  

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For his part, José Miguel Vivanco, director for the Americas at Human Rights Watch, pointed out on his Twitter account that “the Constitutional Chamber of El Salvador - which Bukele cooperated in May of this year - has just allowed Bukele to present himself for reelection.

The same script used by Daniel Ortega and Juan Orlando Hernández (In Nicaragua and Honduras).

Democracy in El Salvador is on the brink of the abyss

”.

The director for the Americas of Amnesty International, Erika Guevara-Rosas, indicated that they are observing El Salvador to “denounce practices that violate” human rights and warned about the dismantling of the institutions.

“In the world we face authoritarian governments that dismantle institutions to violate human rights.

It is proven that El Salvador will not be the exception, ”Guevara-Rosas posted on Twitter.

El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele, waved during his annual address to congress, in San Salvador, on June 1, 2021.

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"Decline of democracy"

On May 1, the new Legislative Assembly (controlled by President Bukele's New Ideas party) dismissed the five magistrates of the Constitutional Chamber and the attorney general, a decision that received harsh criticism both inside and outside the Central American nation. considering that it violates the division of powers.

That same night, the assembly chose and swore in five new magistrates for the chamber and a general attorney.

The charge d'affaires of the US embassy in San Salvador, Jean Manes, said at a press conference that "

the United States Government condemns the decision

taken on September 3 by the Salvadoran Constitutional Chamber."

"This ruling is the direct result of the May 1 decision of the Salvadoran Legislative Assembly to unconstitutionally remove the acting magistrates of the Constitutional Chamber and install loyal replacements to the Executive Branch," he added.

"This decline in democracy damages the bilateral relationship that the United States strives to have with the Government of El Salvador."

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For Manes, the decision "demonstrates

a clear strategy to undermine judicial independence

and eliminate a key counterweight to the executive branch."

"A fundamental principle of democracy are the three branches of government, so a weakening of the independence of the judiciary is a sign of a democracy in decline in El Salvador," he said.

Manes avoided referring to possible sanctions, and said that "in diplomatic terms we are talking with the White House and the other branches of the United States Government to decide the way forward," but noted that, beyond diplomatic issues, decisions taken by El Salvador already "have an immediate impact because basically

all efforts to attract investment

" to that Central American nation

are being frozen

.

With information from AP and EFE