Overview

• On August 1, the Bukele-aligned legislature approved the constitutional amendment by a 57–3 vote.
• The change abolishes presidential term limits, eliminates the runoff vote, extends mandates from five to six years and resets Bukele’s current term to end in 2027.
• Human Rights Watch and NGOs such as Cristosal and Socorro Jurídico have denounced the move as the death of democracy and a step toward dictatorship.
• Bukele’s state of exception since 2022 has slashed the homicide rate from 106 to 1.9 per 100,000 but triggered around 87,000 warrantless arrests and about 430 in-custody deaths.
• The president has also partnered with President Trump to house expelled Venezuelans at the CeCOT mega-prison as part of bilateral immigration enforcement.