HRF condemns El Salvador’s ruling party, Nuevas Ideas, for ratifying President Nayib Bukele’s candidacy for the 2027 presidential election, paving the way for a third consecutive term. The move further entrenches Bukele’s concentration of power and undermines alternation of power, a core democratic principle.

Bukele’s 2024 reelection had already been widely criticized for violating the constitutional ban on consecutive reelection after loyalist judges on the Constitutional Chamber authorized him to run. In 2025, the regime-controlled Legislative Assembly approved constitutional reforms allowing indefinite presidential reelection and extending presidential terms to six years.

These developments come amid more than four years of a state of exception that has eroded due process guarantees and enabled growing repression of dissent. Lawyers and critics of the regime, including Ruth López and Enrique Anaya, remain arbitrarily detained, and independent journalists and civil society organizations continue to face harassment and intimidation.

HRF calls on the international community, particularly democratic governments in the Americas, to reject the dismantling of democratic safeguards in El Salvador and to continue supporting those working to defend the rule of law, fundamental freedoms, and democratic institutions.