Presidential re-election, a thorny topic of debate in the country’s political circles, was addressed by Ulloa in an exclusive interview with Prensa Latina during which he said that regarding this process, Article 152, number 1 of the Constitution states that in order for him to stand as a candidate, he must to leave the presidency six months before the new term begins.
‘There are readings of the Constitution of all kinds. This is my opinion,’ he noted. The one that defines the process is the people when the election begins. But first, what he defines is the ruling of the Constitutional Chamber, which is mandatory, he pointed out.
The Chamber already said that I could run without any problem as long as I leave office at least six months before, that is the difference when it comes to re-election because the Constitution does not speak of re-election, it speaks of being able to stand as a candidate for a second term, clarified the senior official.
If Bukele runs, he meets all the requirements and shows up, and the electoral authority registers him, he has to go through several legal filters, even within his New Ideas party, until he gets to the balloting, he explained.
‘When he is already on the ballot and the citizen has to decide, the other candidates are there, that is where the re-election process takes place, but it is the people who decide it. If the people vote and elect him then he will be re-elected. It is the sovereign’s will,’ he pointed out.
Ulloa explained that some say, ‘well, but since he has 90 percent approval, he’s already safe,’ but he’s not so sure, he said. In politics things are not written in stone. And they can change at any time, said the Salvadoran vice president.
It is not that here the Constitutional Chamber gave him re-election, no, what the chamber said is that he can present himself as a candidate if he meets all the requirements, because if he does not meet it, he said, I could not, once I met the requirements go to elections and that is where the people make the decision, in a free, sovereign and democratic manner, Ulloa stressed.
Meanwhile, Salvadorans in the country and abroad continue the controversy over Bukele’s announcement to stand for re-election in February 2024.
Sectors of the opposition on the left and right in the nation turn their weapons against the government, considering it is an unconstitutional action to perpetuate themselves in power and even qualify the attempt as a plan to establish a tyranny.
However, some analysts estimate that the truth is the opposition does not have a candidate so far who can unseat the president if he runs for a new government term consecutively.
On this matter, Jorge Arriaza, Executive Director of the Salvadoran Association of Industrialists, said that they support the idea and, according to him, it is endorsed by a resolution of the Constitutional Chamber, which is the law of the Republic and must be complied with.
The aforementioned decision, which dates from September 2021, specifies that the president can present himself again as a candidate for re-election and that it is the people’s decision to support him or not.
On the other hand, a statement from the Salvadoran diaspora in Canada, made up of about 51,000 people, expressed in a statement their opposition to Bukele’s attempt to remain in the Government House in 2024 for another consecutive period.
The violation of that norm, they pointed out, forces the insurrection. About three million Salvadorans live abroad, many of whom have the right to vote and could be a decisive factor in the 2024 elections.
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