SAN SALVADOR, Sept 4 — El Salvador’s top court has ruled that the country’s president can serve two consecutive terms, opening the door for Nayib Bukele to stand for re-election in 2024 and sparking condemnation from the US government.
The constitutional chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice ordered the Supreme Electoral Tribunal to enable a president who had not been in office “in the immediately preceding period to participate in the electoral contest for a second occasion.” American officials are also concerned about what they see as signs of authoritarianism under Bukele, who last year sent troops into Congress to pressure lawmakers into approving legislation, and who has withdrawn from US-backed anti-corruption accords.
That has yet to go to the Central American country’s Congress, which Bukele’s party and its allies control.In 2014, the court ruled that presidents would have to wait 10 years after leaving office to be re-elected.