Overview

• Legislators voted 57–3 to back constitutional amendments removing presidential term limits and extending mandates from five to six years.
• The reform would abolish the second-round runoff requirement and include a transitional clause ending Bukele’s current term on June 1, 2027, to align presidential, legislative and municipal elections.
• Proposed changes target five articles of the 1983 Constitution—75, 80, 133, 152 and 154—to enshrine unlimited re-election and overhaul electoral rules.
• Bukele’s Nuevas Ideas party leveraged its supermajority and a judiciary reshaped by allies to fast-track the amendments without debate.
• Observers warn the move mirrors Nicaragua’s January 2025 reforms under Ortega and Murillo and deepens concerns over democratic backsliding in Central America.