EL SALVADOR — August 22, 2026
El Salvador’s 2025-2027 electoral cycle has moved into its next formal phase, with the country now roughly six months from a February 28, 2027 general election that will decide the presidency, the Legislative Assembly, and all 44 municipal councils under a restructured electoral system.
President Nayib Bukele’s party, Nuevas Ideas, formally ratified his candidacy for a third consecutive term following the close of internal party primaries on July 29. The nomination is possible because of a constitutional reform passed and ratified in a single legislative session on July 31, 2025, which amended five articles of the constitution to remove the country’s long-standing ban on consecutive presidential re-election. Vice President Félix Ulloa has publicly defended the change, arguing it lets citizens make their choice freely and democratically at the ballot box.
The reform also restructured how presidents are chosen going forward: starting with the 2027 vote, the presidency will be decided by a simple majority in a single round, eliminating the runoff system that had been in place since the 1983 constitution. Terms will also lengthen from five years to six.
Opposition parties have used the same primary window to finalize their own tickets. The Alianza Republicana Nacionalista, or ARENA, nominated former lawmaker Mayteé Gabriela Iraheta Escalante for president, with Verónica Henríquez as her running mate. Other opposition coalitions completed similar internal processes by the July 29 deadline, selecting candidates for 60 legislative seats and dozens of municipal races alongside their presidential tickets.
The electoral calendar now moves toward candidate registration, which the Supreme Electoral Tribunal has set for October 1 through November 19. The official campaign period runs from October 27, 2026 through February 24, 2027, giving Bukele’s opponents just four months of formal campaigning to challenge an incumbent who has maintained an approval rating above 90 percent through most of his presidency — a level of popularity that has also made his security and communications model an export other Latin American candidates are studying and adapting for their own campaigns.
For readers following the country’s civic and economic trajectory, the coming months will test whether that popularity translates into a genuinely competitive race, or whether the reformed rules and dominant legislative majority Bukele’s party holds make the outcome a formality well before voters go to the polls.
Human-Directed AI Journalism: This article was researched and drafted with AI assistance, directed, fact-checked, and edited by a human journalist before publication.