El Salvador: new Congress dominated by Nayib Bukele’s party takes office

A new Congress controlled by the president Nayib Bukele who took office this Wednesday in The Savior held its first plenary session and stopped waiting for the ratification of a controversial law to facilitate changes to the Constitution.

In the new legislature, which was reduced from 84 to 60 deputies, the party’s bench in power New ideas It has 54 seats.

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“They remain in office“for the period that begins this Wednesday and ends on April 30, 2027, said the re-elected president of Congress before the plenary, Ernesto Castro.

The president of the Legislative Assembly, Ernesto Castro, speaks during a plenary session on May 1, 2024, in San Salvador, El Salvador. (Photo by Rodrigo Sura/EFE)

With the large parliamentary majority, Bukele’s party has more than the votes necessary to approve and ratify possible reforms to the Constitution or approve any Executive law proposal.

The previous Congress, also dominated by the president’s party, voted on Monday in favor of modifying a constitutional norm to accelerate possible changes in the Magna Cartaan initiative promoted by the Government of Nayib Bukele.

“The issue of ratification (of the constitutional reform) remains pending, when the plenary decides to submit it for consideration. Today this did not happen, it was considered that other aspects had to be resolved before ratification“, explained to AFP a spokesperson for the ruling party.

The text that has not yet been ratified by parliamentarians provides that changes to the Constitution may be approved in the same legislature. Currently, these changes must be approved in one legislature and ratified in the next.

To be approved, this constitutional reform project needs the support of three quarters of the new parliamentarians.

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Jurists, analysts and activists have warned that the change to the Constitution proposed by the Government will make it easier for Bukele to make future changes to the Constitution and would be a step towards a “dictatorial scheme“by default”counterweight”.

The social worker, Gustavo Deleón63-year-old, told AFP that he hopes the new lawmakers “really respond to the needs of the people and not just the power groups”.

This Wednesday, the country’s mayors also took office for a period of three years, whose municipalities were reduced from 262 to 44, following a reform of the electoral law.

Source: Elcomercio