El Salvador: A Second Term for the Pro-Bitcoin President?

His supporters chanted “five more years”, and he accepted their request to run for El Salvador’s next presidential term. And yet, his political opponents have never accepted the legalization of bitcoin. Let alone this second term at the head of the country. But Nayib Bukele, who is used to seeing things through, persists.

Bukele, on course for a second term

Elected President of El Salvador in June 2019, Nayib Bukele’s popularity has grown in line with his heroic actions. It’s no secret that the 43-year-old president was the first leader in the world to legalize bitcoin. This has earned him a rise in popularity among young people and those with a certain economic status, according to the results of a Prensa Grafica survey.

Add to this a better management of the pandemic, the construction of road infrastructure, educational reform and the crackdown on gangs.

🇸🇻| ÚLTIMA HORA: Al grito de “cinco más, cinco más y ni un paso atrás” Nayib Bukele da su discurso delante de miles de Salvadoreños luego de inscribir su candidatura presidencial para la reelección. “Necesitamos 5 años para seguir mejorando nuestro país.” pic.twitter.com/ApaP8yyQBm

— Eduardo Menoni (@eduardomenoni) October 27, 2023

“RECENT NEWS: To the cry of ‘five more, five more and not a step back’, Nayib Bukele delivers his speech to thousands of Salvadorans after registering his candidacy for presidential re-election. ‘We need five years to continue improving our country’.”

According to Cointelegraph, El Salvador’s Bitcoin president has just filed a dossier confirming his candidacy for his own succession in the 2024 elections. Backed by the public and his Nueva Ideas (New Ideas) party, Nayib Bukele didn’t hesitate an inch.

This led his opponents to denounce constitutional acts.

Lawyer Alfonso Fajardo argued that granting Bukele a second term was out of the question.

“Today is a good day to remember immediate presidential re-election is prohibited up to seven times by the Constitution,” he asserted on October 26.

https://twitter.com/puchicadanny/status/1717914043090980917

“Nayib Bukele is standing for re-election in El Salvador even though seven articles of the constitution forbid it. The constitution was written after our peace agreements, after our bloody civil war. It’s unconstitutional.”

France24 confirmed, in an article dated September 2021, that plurality of office is not permitted in El Salvador. Except that the Supreme Court under the Bukele era apparently decided to turn a blind eye this time. Nayib Bukele, the bitcoin fan, therefore enjoyed the exceptional privilege of being allowed to run for another term.

Bitcoin, a legal but unconstitutional currency in El Salvador?

History is there to remind us that El Salvador beat all other countries in the world by adopting bitcoin as legal tender on its territory in 2021. Unfortunately, not everyone was happy about this: Washington, the IMF and even Salvadoran politicians.

The Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMNLB), to which Salvadorans would give only 4% of the vote (Source: Reuters), jumped at the chance to denounce that BTC would trample on the country’s constitution.

What about the impact of legalizing the queen of cryptocurrencies in El Salvador? Our colleague recently took a closer look at the subject. In his presentation, he highlighted real advances in the tourism, economic and other sectors. But the country’s finances have also seen improvements, as the price of bitcoin continues to climb, as do the yields on El Salvador’s international bonds.