President Bukele’s party, Nuevas Ideas (New Ideas), radically upended Salvadoran constitutional law on Monday, April 29 to give themselves total license to approve and ratify constitutional amendments in the coming legislative period, a massive slate of which have been under discussion since 2020. Opposition political parties, civil society organizations, and the grassroots popular movement immediately denounced their approved “reform” for dismantling fundamental protections for citizen participation and limits on the consolidation of power enshrined in the constitution. Many of the constitutional amendments reportedly under discussion would dismantle key pillars of the 1992 Peace Accords that ended the civil war.

Just two days before the end of the current legislative period (2021-2024), Bukele’s party and allies rushed through a reform to article 248 of the Constitution of the Republic, which defines the process for constitutional amendments. According to the current constitution, the approval of a constitutional amendment requires a vote of 50 percent +1 of sitting legislators in the current legislative period and ratification by two thirds of the sitting legislators in the subsequent legislative period. This is meant to ensure that an election will be held in between so that voters can continue to support - or not - the parties or legislators who voted to approve the amendment.

The change approved Monday, which civil society groups described as “hasty and without consultation” would instead permit future proposed and approved amendments to be ratified by three-fourths of legislators within the same three-year legislative period. Anabel Belloso, an outgoing legislative deputy for the leftist party Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) decried the move as fueled by the ruling party’s ambition to perpetuate their power.

The reform is expected to be ratified by the incoming legislature, whose term is scheduled to begin on May 1. Bukele’s party would therefore be able to approve any Constitutional change they wish in the upcoming legislative period since they will hold 54 out of 60 seats as a result of the elimination of seats, changes to formula for assigning legislative seats, ballot stuffing, and other concerns documented during the February 4, 2024 election. This could include changes to term limits, already violated by Bukele’s participation in the 2024 presidential election, and others that have been in discussion for the past several years.

Changes on the Horizon: Commission Proposes Amendments to Rollback Peace Accords

Following an official decree by Bukele on September 1, 2020, Vice President Felix Ulloa spearheaded an ad hoc commission whose goal was to provide recommendations to the president for constitutional amendments. On September 15, 2022, the commission presented 216 amendments to the Constitution, currently comprised of 274 articles. Constitutional scholars have stated that such significant changes amount to an overhaul that essentially replaces the country’s constitution and warn that many of the proposed amendments serve to concentrate power into fewer hands, overwhelmingly under Bukele’s control.

One of the most worrying amendments would open the door to a legalized politicization of the armed forces, directly violating the 1992 Peace Accords that brought an end to the country’s 12-year civil war. Human rights experts also warn of a proposed change to strike an existing constitutional prohibition on “armed groups of a political, religious or guild nature,” potentially opening the door to additional militarization or repressive state forces.

Another proposed reform would replace the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, also created by the Peace Accords. Members of the new electoral authority, as well as of a proposed Constitutional Tribunal and other government bodies would be selected by a new “Lawyers and Notaries Association.” While not explicitly laid out in the reforms, the Association of Lawyers and Notaries would likely be controlled by the Legislative Assembly, where Nuevas Ideas will hold a supermajority in the 2024-2027 legislative period.

The ad hoc committee also proposed changes that could facilitate Bukele and Ulloa remaining in power in perpetuity. One suggested reform extends the presidential period from five years to six and would allow reelection after a single period of a different president. Human rights groups warn that this would allow a revolving door in which Bukele and Ulloa take turns serving as president. Ulloa’s proposed reforms would also redefine the definition of the State, legitimizing the existence of one-party rule.

Opposition Denounces Highly-Irregular Process

The content of the reforms Bukele and his party may pursue only adds to the alarm that civil society organizations, legal experts, and opposition politicians have raised regarding Monday’s decision to eliminate the need for a second round of legislative approval for Constitutional amendments.

First, and perhaps most fundamentally, Article 248, which governs the process for constitutional amendments, is an essential part of the so-called "cláusulas pétreas" or clauses that are set in stone and thus cannot be tampered with.

Secondly, the proposal was adopted through a last-minute agenda modification, requiring a waiver of normal procedure, a common practice employed by the Bukele-aligned supermajority since the start of its term in May 2021. This is a far cry from the required process for a constitutional reform, which has seven phases, including one of dialogue and public deliberation prior to approval as well as an informative phase prior to ratification.

Lastly, the reform was approved after the 2024 legislative election. As legal experts have pointed out, legal precedent establishes that the period to propose new constitutional reforms expired following the February 4th legislative election. In 2013, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court ruled that a legislative election must also take place in between the approval and the ratification of a constitutional reform, in order for the citizenry to be able to “pronounce itself in favor or against the reform, according to the political platforms of the candidates for legislative deputy seats.”

In a joint statement released on Monday, a diverse group of Salvadoran civil society organizations denounced that “with their reform, the legislative deputies gain a new power: to change the Constitution in a single legislature, taking away the power of the citizens to decide with their vote.”

Read the full statement here and our translation to English here.

Statement from CISPES: “Though Bukele’s party’s latest illegal maneuver to further expand their own power is alarming, it is not surprising. In the face of Bukele’s and his party’s utter disregard for the law, international solidarity with the Salvadoran popular movement, and their efforts to unify diverse sectors of the population facing threats from the regime, from agricultural communities to union leaders to human rights defenders, is essential.”