By María Josefina Arce.

In the midst of a state of emergency, Salvadorans went to the polls this Sunday to elect the new president of the country and the members of the Legislative Assembly, in an electoral process marked by controversy over the candidacy of the current president Nayib Bukele, although the Constitution does not allow reelection.
  
And the results are not a surprise. As expected, he was reelected for a second term. His hard-line security policy has earned him the support of a large part of the citizenry. According to official statistics, the homicide rate was reduced to a historic level and 2023 was the safest year in the Central American nation.
   
But his strategy, which has included the construction of a mega-prison and the declaration of a state of emergency that will soon be two years old, has also provoked numerous criticisms for human rights violations.
    
This is not, however, the only controversy surrounding the president, who has gained control of the three branches of government, executive, legislative and judicial. For his new candidacy, experts point out, at least six articles of the Constitution were ignored.
   
His path to reelection was paved by a ruling of the Constitutional Court, renewed by the Assembly, in the hands of his party Nuevas Ideas, which interpreted the Magna Carta in his favor.