El Salvador sets Feb 28 election as Bukele seeks third term

El Salvador will hold presidential elections on Feb 28, the electoral tribunal said Wednesday, paving the way for iron-fisted president Nayib Bukele to seek a third term.

El Salvador last year amended its constitution to abolish presidential term limits and allow Bukele,who has been in power since 2019, to indefinitely seek re-election.

The 45-year-old is a hero to many in his homeland and across Latin America for cracking down hard on gangs.

Under a state of exception he declared in 2022, and which is still in effect, around 92,000 people, mostly young men, have been arrested and held, many without charge.

To clear the legal backlog, the courts have begun holding mass trials.

Bukele’s offensive has reduced crime to historic lows but at the expense, NGOs say, of widespread human right abuses, including torture, that could constitute crimes against humanity.

He rejects allegations of rights abuses and has made light of the accusations of his authoritarian style, calling himself the “world’s coolest dictator.”

He won the nomination of his Nuevas Ideas party to run for a third term. If successful this would extend his presidency until 2033 under new rules extending presidential terms from five years to six.

Former congresswoman Maytee Iraheta, of the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA), and union leader Rafael Aguirre, of the left-wing Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), have announced plans to run against Bukele.

Bukele’s rise to power brought down the curtain on three decades of power alternating between ARENA and the FMLN.