Overview
- Nuevas Ideas proclaimed Nayib Bukele as its presidential candidate on Monday, July 13, with Vice President Félix Ulloa named again as his running mate.
- The campaign is possible because a July 2025 package of congressional reforms abolished the two-term limit, extended the presidential term and altered the vote rules after earlier court rulings that opened the way to immediate re-election.
- Bukele retains high approval driven by a security strategy and a state of exception started in 2022 that sharply cut homicide rates and changed daily life for many Salvadorans by reducing gang violence.
- Human-rights groups and opposition figures accuse the government of arbitrary detentions, due-process violations and using emergency powers to silence critics, while critics say control of Congress and the courts has weakened institutional checks.
- Recent investigative reports published in May and June 2026 documented large increases in declared assets for Bukele and close officials, prompting questions about transparency and adding pressure from international observers as the campaign moves toward the February 2027 vote.