Almost 70 p.c of Salvadorans supported or expressed optimistic sentiments in direction of the election of President Nayib Bukele to a second consecutive time period in 2024 regardless of the nation’s structure explicitly forbidding it, in accordance with a ballot printed on Tuesday by the Salvadoran newspaper La Prensa Gráfica.
The outcomes of the ballot, executed by the agency LPG Datos, the polling division of La Prensa Gráfica, confirmed that, out of the 1,500 respondents questioned between February 15 and 24, 68.3 p.c supported or “expressed positive sentiment” in direction of Bukele being reelected. Solely 13.1 p.c mentioned they opposed or had a adverse opinion of Bukele’s re-election.
Most respondents didn’t seem to know that the Salvadoran structure bans consecutive re-election for presidents. Requested if the structure permits the speedy re-election of the president, 34.9 p.c mentioned sure, whereas solely 24.9 p.c mentioned no. The same quantity to those that supported Bukele for a second time period, 67.9 p.c, mentioned their structure ought to enable it.
Bukele, who took workplace in 2019, introduced in September his intention to run for president once more for a second consecutive time period as soon as his present five-year time period ends on Might 30, 2024, even supposing El Salvador’s structure doesn’t enable for a right away reelection of a president after the tip of their time period. The structure does enable a beforehand elected president to run for a second, non-consecutive time period.
File/ El Salvadors President Nayib Bukele meets Chinese language Premier Li Keqiang on the Nice Corridor of the Individuals on December 3, 2019 in Beijing, China. (Noel Celis – Pool/Getty Photos)
The extremely in style Salvadoran president began March with an approval charge hovering round 92 p.c — the best within the area by a large margin, largely because of his fierce crackdown on the nation’s rampant gang violence that has, reviews have proven, led to what seems to be a dramatic discount in crime.
There are three articles in El Salvador’s structure that consult with the matter of the nation’s presidential phrases and/or the prohibition in opposition to serving consecutive phrases.
Article 152 of the Salvadoran structure states that an individual is probably not candidate for president if they’ve “held the office of President of the Republic for more than six months, consecutive or not, during the immediately preceding period, or within the last six months prior to the beginning of the months prior to the beginning of the presidential term.”
Article 154 states: “The term of office of the President shall be five years and shall begin and end on the first day of June, and the person who has served as President shall not be able to continue in office for one more day.”
Article 75 of El Salvador’s Structure states that “those who subscribe acts, proclamations or adhesions to promote or support the reelection or continuation of the President of the Republic, or use direct means to that end” will lose their rights as residents.
In September 2021, the Supreme Courtroom of Justice of El Salvador — whose prime justices had all been changed by the overwhelmingly pro-Bukele majority in Congress that yr alongside the nation’s lawyer basic — issued a controversial new interpretation of Article 152 of the Salvadoran structure that paved the way in which for a potential Bukele reelection.
In its ruling, the Salvadoran prime court docket argued that, whereas the structure explicitly states that an individual who has held workplace for greater than six months “during the immediately preceding period” is probably not a candidate for President, the prohibition is, in accordance with them, directed to the candidates and to not the president. Thus, the ruling reasoned, a sitting president is ready to run for a second consecutive five-year time period as long as they resign six months earlier than the tip of their time period.
Individuals a protest in opposition to the most recent measures taken by the Legislative Meeting, together with the dismissal of the Supreme Courtroom judges and the Legal professional Normal, in San Salvador, on Might 2, 2021. (MARVIN RECINOS/AFP by way of Getty Photos)
The controversial ruling drew worldwide criticism, together with from the U.S. Division of State, which accused the court docket of undermining democracy.
Bukele defined his choice to hunt reelection by arguing that “developed countries have reelection.”
“And thanks to the new configuration of the democratic institution of our country, now El Salvador will, too,” he continued.
When requested by La Prensa Gráfica for his or her causes to permit the speedy reelection of the president, those that supported it answered that they supported work being finished by the present president. Another excuse supplied was the assertion that voters ought to have the final phrase on who the president is, not written legislation, and that permitting speedy reelection could also be helpful for the continuation of some tasks. People who expressed their rejection of speedy reelection answered that the primary causes for his or her opinion have been to help the structure, to permit different candidates an opportunity to steer, that they believed a five-year time period was sufficient for one individual, and fears that permitting reelection might result in a dictatorship.
As decided by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal of El Salvador final yr, the subsequent presidential and legislative elections will happen on February 4, 2024. If a runoff election is required, it could then happen on March 3, 2024.
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