El Salvador’s Legislative Assembly approved changes to the country’s constitution on Thursday that will extend presidential terms from five years to six and abolish term limits. That means President Nayib Bukele, a far-right crypto enthusiast who’s allied with President Donald Trump, could potentially stay in power for the rest of his natural life.

First elected in 2019 on a promise to crack down on gangs, Bukele was supposed to be prohibited from running for re-election in 2024. But the country’s Supreme Court of Justice ruled in 2021 that one of the articles in El Salvador’s constitution allows a president to run for re-election once. Bukele’s New Ideas Party removed magistrates in the Supreme Court who had opposed the president, clearing the path for Bukele to rule the country with an iron fist and make any constitutional changes necessary to remain in power indefinitely.

Bukele was re-elected in 2024 under those extremely dubious circumstances, and his term was scheduled to end on June 1, 2029. But lawmaker Ana Figueroa from the New Ideas Party has suggested moving up Bukele’s re-election to June 1, 2027, to put it more in line with congressional elections, according to the Associated Press. With the new changes and Bukele’s popularity, it would presumably allow the president to consolidate even more power now that he could be re-elected again and again, both without term limits and for a longer term each time.

The vote to strip term limits for the president and extend the length of each term passed by 57 to 3. And one of the three dissenters, Marcela Villatoro of the Nationalist Republican Alliance, warned that democracy would be weakened with the changes, according to the AP.

“You don’t realize what indefinite reelection brings: It brings an accumulation of power and weakens democracy … there’s corruption and clientelism because nepotism grows and halts democracy and political participation,” Villatoro is quoted as saying in an English language translation.

Bukele, a fan of Elon Musk and frequent user of X, hasn’t tweeted about the changes yet. But guys like Musk and Trump are no doubt excited that their buddy in Central America is going to get even more power. Trump met with Bukele in the White House back in April when the U.S. president was shipping migrants to the U.S. to El Salvador’s torture prison. The men sent there, some of whom have been released into Venezuela, have told horror stories about being beaten, given dirty water, and sexually assaulted.

Bukele rode into office and remains popular because he promised to crack down on gangs. But recent reporting from the country’s El Faro news outlet claims Bukele’s government signed a secret pact in 2019 with gang leaders to dial back violence in the country. Part of the deal, according to the news outlet, was providing financial incentives. Bukele has taken credit for reducing violence by insisting it’s all part of his brutally violent crackdown.

Bukele has invested his country’s money heavily in crypto, holding nearly $550 million of its foreign exchange reserves in bitcoin, according to Reuters, which amounts to about 15%. And while that may seem like a fine thing to do when bitcoin is soaring, it’s extremely risky for any government when the price of crypto is so volatile. Bukele’s government made reassurances to the International Monetary Fund that it would scale back its crypto project in exchange for a $1.4 billion bailout from the IMF. But as the Council on Foreign Relations pointed out in May, the country is still buying bitcoin.

As CoinTelegraph reported in June, El Salvador has added at least 240 BTC since Dec. 19, 2024, right after the agreement with the IMF was announced. That’s more than $27 million at the current bitcoin price, which is hovering around $114,500, near the record high of about $123,000. It’s not clear what the IMF may do since El Salvador violated its agreement, but whatever happens, the government needs to hope the price doesn’t plummet.

The constitutional amendment also extends presidential terms from five years to six and scraps election run-offs.

El Salvador’s ruling party has passed a bill to overhaul how elections are run in the Central American nation, opening the door for President Nayib Bukele to serve another term.

On Thursday, 57 Congress members voted in favour and three voted against a constitutional amendment that will allow indefinite presidential re-election, extend terms from five years to six and scrap election run-offs.

Bukele won a second term last year despite a clear prohibition in the country’s constitution. El Salvador’s top court, filled with Bukele-backed judges, ruled in 2021 that it was the leader’s human right to run again.

After his re-election last year, Bukele told reporters he “didn’t think a constitutional reform would be necessary”, but evaded questions on whether he would try to run for a third term.

With Thursday’s constitutional reforms, Bukele, who enjoys enormous support at home for his heavy-handed campaign against criminal gangs, will be able to run again.

The overhaul will also shorten the president’s current term to synchronise elections in 2027, as presidential, legislative and municipal elections are currently staggered.

“Thank you for making history, fellow deputies,” said Ernesto Castro, the president of the Legislative Assembly from the ruling New Ideas party, after counting the votes on Thursday.

‘Democracy has died’

Speaking during the parliamentary session, opposition lawmaker Marcela Villatoro from the Republican National Alliance (ARENA) criticised the proposal being brought to parliament as the country begins a week of summer holidays and said “democracy has died in El Salvador”.

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Opposition politician Claudia Ortiz from the Vamos party slammed the reform as “an abuse of power and a caricature of democracy”.

The constitutional reform has also drawn sharp criticism from international rights groups.

“The reforms lead to a total imbalance in the democracy that no longer exists,” Miguel Montenegro, director of NGO the Human Rights Commission of El Salvador, told the AFP news agency.

“The day before vacation, without debate, without informing the public, in a single legislative vote, they changed the political system to allow the president to perpetuate himself in power indefinitely, and we continue to follow the well-travelled path of autocrats,” Noah Bullock, executive director of rights group Cristosal, told the Reuters news agency.

The group recently left El Salvador, declaring itself in exile due to Bukele’s drive to consolidate his grip on power and crack down on critics and humanitarian organisations.

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele can potentially rule perpetually, as the central American country’s legislature has just approved constitutional reforms that scrapped presidential term limits. The term length will increase from five to six years and the next election is moved forward to 2027, reports said on Friday (Aug 1). The changes will also shorten Bukele’s current term by two years, so that the presidential, legislative, and municipal elections cuold be held together in 2027. The move is being slammed by critics as establishing one-party rule.

How Bukele is cementing his rule in El Salvador

The El Salvador Congress passed the reform with Bukele’s 57 allies backing it, while only three opposition members voted against the move. “Thank you for making history, fellow deputies,” said Ernesto Castro, president of the Legislative Assembly from Bukele’s New Ideas party, after the vote. Bukele, the 44-year-old leader known for gangster crackdowns and love for cryptocurrency, has already won a second term last year despite constitutional prohibitions. In 2021, El Salvador’s top court, which is stacked with Bukele-backed judges, ruled that it was his “human right to run again.”

Who is Nayib Bukele, the social media-savvy, crypto-loving populist president of El Salvador?

First elected in 2019, Nayib Bukele is very popular in central America, having broken into El Salvador politics away from traditional parties. The social-media savvy Bukele became famous globally first for making cryptocurrency adoption the official policy in September 2021. Under him, El Salvador became the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. Bukele invested public funds into the cryptocurrency and envisioned a Bitcoin City, that would be powered by geothermal energy from volcanoes. Bukele argued that the move would promote financial inclusion, increase the efficiency of remittances and boost private investments. His move attracted digial nomads and crypto investors for some time to El Salvador. The IMF and financial analysts warned of fiscal risk and volatility, which were proven in later years as Bitcoin prices plummeted to record lows before recovering. The massive fluctuations in Bitcoin value led Bukele to amend the law in subsequent years.

Bukele is known for tough crackdown on gangs and crime in El Salvador

Bukele’s signature initiative has been a massive crackdown on gang violence. He declared a state of emergency, which has been extended repeatedly since 2022, to fight crime. At least 75,000 people have been arrested, often without formal charges, under Bukele’s anti-crime policies.

The crackdown led to a decline in homicide rates, but rights groups have raised alarm over violations of due process, and mass detentions. Last December, Amnesty International slammed the alleged “gradual replacement of gang violence with state violence.”

There have been allegations of abuse in overcrowded prisons of El Salvador. In order to address this, Bukele in 2022 inaugurated a 40,000-capacity Terrorism Confinement Center, a maximum security prison in Tecolucar.

Bukele’s ‘perpetual rule’ move criticised

Critics have accused Bukele and his supporters of trampling on democracy, with opposition MP Marcela Villatoro saying, “Today, democracy has died in El Salvador.” “The day before vacation, without debate, without informing the public, in a single legislative vote, they changed the political system to allow the president to perpetuate himself in power indefinitely and we continue to follow the well-travelled path of autocrats,” said Noah Bullock, executive director of human rights group Cristosal.

Despite international criticism, Bukele enjoys high approval ratings in El Salvador, where many citizens see him as restoring order and national pride.

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There was no shortage of warning signs that El Salvador President Nayib Bukele would attempt to stay in power indefinitely, his critics say.

There was the time Bukele stormed the legislative assembly with armed soldiers during his first year in office. Or a year after that, when his allies in the congress removed top Supreme Court judges and the attorney general and replaced them with Bukele loyalists.

Then last year, Bukele ran for a consecutive term as president after the new Supreme Court judges reinterpreted the constitution.

But the final tipping point came on Thursday afternoon, when a little-known legislator from Bukele’s ruling New Ideas party announced a proposal to amend the constitution to allow indefinite presidential reelection.

Bukele allies lined up one by one to sign a petition that would allow the assembly to vote on the legislation immediately, without it first going to committee for analysis or public debate.

A mere three hours passed from the time the legislation was introduced until the moment it became law. Fifty-seven lawmakers voted in favor, with three in opposition.

Ernesto Castro, the assembly president, framed the vote as a win for democracy. “The people will decide how long they want a leader to remain in office,” Castro wrote on X. “With these decisive measures, we are ensuring a stronger, fairer and more efficient democracy.”

Marcela Villatoro, one of the three legislators to vote against the measure, countered late on Thursday: “Democracy has died in El Salvador today.”

The constitutional change also lengthened the presidential term by a year to six, eliminated runoffs, and moved up the next presidential election by two years to 2027, leaving little room for Bukele’s scattered opposition to find a candidate.

DEEPENING CRACKDOWN

Bukele, who swept to power in 2019, is extremely popular in El Salvador because of his strong-arm tactics that have eliminated the country’s once-powerful street gangs. That, combined with his effective crackdown on opponents, virtually guarantees that the 44-year-old will remain in office until at least 2033 — and perhaps many years after that.

Human rights groups accuse Bukele of widespread abuses and corruption, and a flood of rights activists and journalists have fled the country in recent months after two outspoken critics were arrested and jailed.

A spokesperson for Bukele did not respond to requests for comment about the constitutional change, whether he plans to run for re-election, or the opposition’s assertion that democracy was being destroyed.

In the U.S., El Salvador’s constitutional amendment was largely met with silence. Bukele is Trump’s strongest ally in Latin America, a relationship cemented by an agreement reached in March for El Salvador to house 238 Venezuelans deported from the U.S. in a maximum-security prison. In April, Trump called Bukele “one hell of a president.”

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio did not respond to a request for comment on the constitutional change.

“The U.S. government is shielding the Bukele regime with its silence,” said Gina Romero, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association. “Bukele has complete control of the courts, the congress, the media and the narrative. If that’s not autocracy I don’t know what is.”

In El Salvador, the reaction to Thursday’s measure was muted. Democracy is relatively new in the country — it was established during 1992 peace accords that ended a brutal 12-year civil war — and many Salvadorans consider it a failure given the power that gangs amassed during that time.

The news appeared on the front pages of the country’s most popular papers. But there were no protests, and many people were more focused on getting ready for a week-long vacation, with government offices closed next week.

Many of Bukele’s most outspoken critics have fled the country, including an estimated 100 journalists and human rights activists. In July, the country’s leading human rights group suspended operations.

Bertha Maria Deleon, a lawyer and activist who worked for Bukele from 2015 to 2019, said Bukele’s rise to power was fueled by what she saw at the time as a legitimate desire to improve El Salvador. He promised to end corruption after three consecutive presidents were accused of embezzling millions of dollars of public funds.

Deleon broke with Bukele after he occupied the parliament in 2020. She said everything he has done since then has been an effort to consolidate power.

“Ever since that takeover of parliament, he clearly began to execute the dictators’ manual,” she said. REUTERS

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San Salvador, El Salvador AP —

The party of El Salvador President Nayib Bukele approved constitutional changes in the country’s Legislative Assembly on Thursday that will allow indefinite presidential reelection and extend presidential terms to six years.

Lawmaker Ana Figueroa from the New Ideas party had proposed the changes to five articles of the constitution. The proposal also included eliminating the second round of the election where the two top vote-getters from the first round face off.

New Ideas and its allies in the Legislative Assembly quickly approved the proposals with the supermajority they hold. The vote passed with 57 in favor and three opposed.

Bukele overwhelmingly won reelection last year despite a constitutional ban, after Supreme Court justices selected by his party ruled in 2021 to allow reelection to a second five-year term.

Observers have worried that Bukele had a plan to consolidate power since at least 2021, when a newly elected Congress with a strong governing party majority voted to remove the magistrates of the constitutional chamber of the Supreme Court. Those justices had been seen as the last check on the popular president.

Since then, Bukele has only grown more popular. The Biden administration’s initial expressions of concern gave way to quiet acceptance as Bukele announced his run for reelection. With the return of US President Donald Trump to the White House in January, Bukele had a new powerful ally and quickly offered Trump help by taking more than 200 deportees from other countries into a newly built prison for gang members.

Figueroa argued Thursday that federal lawmakers and mayors can already seek reelection as many times as they want.

“All of them have had the possibility of reelection through popular vote, the only exception until now has been the presidency,” Figueroa said.

She also proposed that Bukele’s current term, scheduled to end June 1, 2029, instead finish June 1, 2027, to put presidential and congressional elections on the same schedule. It would also allow Bukele to seek reelection to a longer term two years earlier.

Representative Marcela Villatoro displays a poster that reads “Democracy died today” on the day of a session of the Salvadoran congress to discuss reforms to the constitution, in San Salvador, El Salvador July 31, 2025. Jose Cabezas/Reuters

Marcela Villatoro of the Nationalist Republican Alliance (Arena), one of three votes against the proposals, told her fellow lawmakers that “Democracy in El Salvador has died!”

“You don’t realize what indefinite reelection brings: It brings an accumulation of power and weakens democracy … there’s corruption and clientelism because nepotism grows and halts democracy and political participation,” she said.

Suecy Callejas, the assembly’s vice president, said that “power has returned to the only place that it truly belongs … to the Salvadoran people.”

Bukele did not immediately comment.

Bukele, who once dubbed himself “the world’s coolest dictator,” is highly popular, largely because of his heavy-handed fight against the country’s powerful street gangs.

Voters have been willing to overlook evidence that his administration like others before it had negotiated with the gangs, before seeking a state of emergency that suspended some constitutional rights and allowed authorities to arrest and jail tens of thousands of people.

His success with security and politically has inspired imitators in the region who seek to replicate his style.

Most recently, Bukele’s government has faced international criticism for the arrests of high-profile lawyers who have been outspoken critics of his administration. One of the country’s most prominent human rights group announced in July it was moving its operations out of El Salvador for the safety of its people, accusing the government of a “wave of repression.”