Why El Salvador will vote sooner for a longer presidential term

Salvadorans will vote for president on February 28, 2027, two years ahead of the previous presidential timetable, and choose a winner who will serve six years rather than five. The electoral authority formally called the contest on September 30, with Nayib Bukele planning to seek a third consecutive term. Associated Press and independent Diario El Mundo reporting confirm the announcement.

The date itself was already scheduled: the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, known as the TSE, published it in December 2025. September’s formal call advances the election process, including the opening of applications to register party candidates.

The apparent contradiction—an earlier vote for a longer term—comes from separate provisions of the constitutional changes ratified on July 31, 2025. The ratified decree makes future presidential terms six years long, but specifically cuts short the term that began on June 1, 2024.

The dates show how the transition works:

The decree’s stated purpose for the shortened term is to bring presidential, legislative and municipal elections together. Voters will also choose 60 legislators and 44 municipal councils in February. Those bodies will serve for 2027–2030, according to Diario El Mundo. The presidency therefore lasts twice as long as the legislative and municipal terms being elected alongside it.

Another change concerns who can run again. A September 2021 constitutional court ruling had already allowed one immediate presidential reelection, enabling Bukele’s return in 2024, AP reports. The 2025 amendments now permit presidential reelection without a limit on successive terms. Eligibility still leaves the separate tasks of registering a candidacy and winning the election.

The winning threshold has changed, too. Previously, a candidate needed an absolute majority—more than half the valid votes—to win without a runoff. The reform removed that second round. The amended Article 80 awards victory to the presidential ticket receiving the largest number of valid votes. El Diario de Hoy’s account describes the change; the decree supplies the wording.

Imagine 100 valid votes divided this way:

Under the former rule, nobody has more than half, so a runoff would be needed. Under the amended rule, A wins with 40%. This is an illustrative calculation, not election data or a forecast.

The distinction matters because finishing first and securing majority support are different tests. In this example, 60 voters chose someone other than A. That does not tell us how they would vote in a second round: preferences cannot simply be added together or transferred between candidates.

Bukele and governing-party lawmakers cited cost savings as a reason to align the elections, El Diario de Hoy reported in August 2025. That account provides no savings estimate. It also records a constitutional challenge filed on August 8, 2025, by Vamos legislator Claudia Ortiz, who argued that presidential alternation is a constitutional principle the legislature cannot remove. The filing alone does not establish a court decision invalidating the reform.

The immediate next step is candidate registration. Nuevas Ideas endorsed Bukele’s 2027 candidacy in July, according to AP. Under the TSE’s national calendar, applications for presidential, vice-presidential and legislative candidacies run from October 1 through November 19, 2026. A party’s endorsement and registration with the electoral authority are separate steps toward appearing on the ballot.

Sources: Associated Press; Diario El Mundo; Decree No. 371; TSE election calendar; El Diario de Hoy.