Bukele Gets Green Light for Unlimited Presidential Terms

El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele just got the green light to stay in power indefinitely after his allies in the legislature steamrolled a constitutional overhaul Thursday night. The changes, approved and ratified by a 57-3 vote in less than two hours without debate, scrap presidential term limits and extend terms from five to six years—meaning Bukele could remain in power for a long time if he keeps winning elections, the Washington Post reports.

• Bukele was first elected in 2019. The 44-year-old, who calls himself "the world's coolest dictator," was re-elected to a second five-year term by a huge margin last year after the country's top court, packed with loyalists installed by Bukele's New Ideas party, changed the constitution to allow presidents to serve a second term.

• The change pushed through by Bukele's party, which holds a supermajority, also shifts legislative elections to coincide with the presidential contest and gets rid of the requirement for a second-round runoff if no candidate wins a majority.
• "It's not surprising. But that doesn't mean it's not severe," says Claudia Ortiz, described by the AP as "one of the country's few remaining opposition lawmakers." The implications, she says, include "concentration of power, more risk of abuse of the rights of Salvadorans ... and the complete dismantling of all democratic checks and balances."

• Critics compared Bukele's path to those of Latin American strongmen like Hugo Chávez and Daniel Ortega. "Ruling indefinitely is the aspiration of all autocrats, and reforming the constitution to achieve that is a well-known method in the autocratic handbook," Noah Bullock, director of the human rights group Cristosal, tells the Post. In July, the organization said it was moving its operations out of El Salvador because of a "wave of repression," CNN reports.

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• Bukele's popularity remains high, largely for his aggressive campaign against gangs, which has brought a dramatic drop in violence—but also tens of thousands of arrests with scant due process.
• Thursday's vote was only possible because Bukele's party changed the rules earlier to let the legislature approve and ratify constitutional changes instead of waiting for a new election.