Politics of El Salvador
This article needs additional citations for verification. (March 2018) |
Politics of the Republic of El Salvador Política de la República de El Salvador | |
---|---|
Unicameral | |
Meeting place | San Salvador |
Presiding officer | Ernesto Castro, President of the Legislative Assembly |
Executive branch | |
Head of State | |
Title | President of El Salvador |
Currently | Claudia Rodríguez de Guevara (acting) |
Appointer | Elected by the citizenry |
Cabinet | |
Current cabinet | Cabinet of Nayib Bukele |
Judicial branch | |
Name | Supreme Court of Justice |
Courts |
|
Chief judge | Óscar Alberto López Jerez |
El Salvador portal |
Politics of El Salvador takes place in a framework of a
Political culture
El Salvador has a
The 2019 election was won by Nayib Bukele as the candidate of the center-right Grand Alliance for National Unity (GANA) party. In February 2021, El Salvador's legislative election was an important breakthrough. The new party, founded by President Bukele, Nuevas Ideas (NI), won around two-thirds of votes with its allies (NI–GANA). His party won a supermajority of 56 seats in the 84-seat legislature. Bukele became the country’s most powerful leader in three decades.[5]
On 4 February 2024, President Nayib Bukele, won re-election with 83% of the vote in general election.[6] His party Nuevas Ideas (New Ideas) won 58 of the El Salvador parliament's 60 seats.[7]
Before the Bukele era, the departments of the central region, especially the capital and the coastal regions, known as departamentos rojos, or red departments, were mostly left-wing while the departamentos azules, or blue departments, in the east, western and highland regions were generally conservative.
Executive branch
Office | Name | Party | Since |
---|---|---|---|
President | Nayib Bukele (presidential powers suspended) | Nuevas Ideas | 1 June 2019 |
Claudia Rodríguez de Guevara (acting) | Nuevas Ideas | 1 December 2023 |
El Salvador elects its head of state, the President of El Salvador, directly through a fixed-date general election whose winner is decided by absolute majority. If an absolute majority is not achieved by any candidate in the first round of a presidential election, then a run-off pool election is conducted 30 days later between the two candidates who obtained the most votes in the first round. The president serves a five-year term. He is barred from immediately succeeding himself, though previously elected presidents may run for a second, non-consecutive term.
In September 2021, El Salvador's Supreme Court decided to allow President Nayib Bukele to run for a second term in the 2024 election, despite the Constitution prohibiting the president from serving two consecutive terms in office. The decision was made by judges appointed to the court by President Bukele.[8]
Legislative branch
Salvadorans also elect a single-chamber, unicameral national
Judicial branch
The Judiciary, headed by the Supreme Court, is composed of 15 judges, one of them being elected as President of the Judiciary.
Foreign relations
El Salvador is a member of the
El Salvador also is a member of the World Trade Organization and is pursuing regional free trade agreements. An active participant in the Summit of the Americas process, El Salvador chairs a working group on market access under the Free Trade Area of the Americas initiative.
References
- ^ V-Dem Institute (2023). "The V-Dem Dataset". Retrieved 14 October 2023.
- ^ Democracy Report 2023, Table 3, V-Dem Institute, 2023
- ^ "El Salvador: Leftist Mauricio Funes sworn in as new president". Die Welt. 2 June 2009.
- ^ "Former guerilla rebel and VP declared El Salvador's president". France 24. 13 March 2014.
- ^ "El Salvador: Bukele has become the country's most powerful leader in three decades after his party won a supermajority". Credendo.
- ^ "El Salvador: Bukele confirmed as president after final count – DW – 02/10/2024". dw.com.
- ^ "El Salvador votes must be recounted, says electoral court – DW – 02/06/2024". dw.com.
- ^ "El Salvador's Bukele gets greenlight to run for re-election". France 24. 4 September 2021.
External links
- Legislative Assembly of El Salvador Archived 2015-09-23 at the Wayback Machine
- Presidency of El Salvador
- Supreme Court of Justice of El Salvador
- Changing Colors in El Salvador[permanent dead link] by Emma Vawter, The Yale Globalist, May 11, 2009