El Salvador sets February 2027 election as Bukele seeks third term

El Salvador's electoral tribunal said Wednesday that the country will hold its next presidential election on February 28, 2027, opening the door for President Nayib Bukele to pursue a third consecutive term in office.

Bukele, in power since 2019, benefited from constitutional amendments passed last year that eliminated presidential term limits, allowing him to seek re-election without restriction. The changes also extended the presidential term from five to six years, meaning a victory in 2027 could keep him in office until 2033.

The 45-year-old leader is widely admired in El Salvador and across Latin America for his aggressive crackdown on gang violence. Under a state of exception declared in 2022 and still in force, roughly 92,000 people — mostly young men — have been arrested and detained, many without formal charges. To deal with the resulting backlog, courts have started holding mass trials.

While Bukele's crime policies have driven crime rates to historic lows, human rights organizations say this has come at the cost of widespread abuses, including torture, which they argue could amount to crimes against humanity. Bukele denies the accusations and has brushed off criticism of his authoritarian governing style, at one point jokingly referring to himself as the "world's coolest dictator."

He has secured the nomination of his Nuevas Ideas party to run again. Challenging him will be former lawmaker Maytee Iraheta of the right-wing ARENA party and union leader Rafael Aguirre representing the left-wing FMLN. Bukele's original rise to power ended three decades during which ARENA and FMLN alternated control of the presidency.