El Salvador’s new legislative assembly has voted to dismiss top Supreme Court judges hostile to President Nayib Bukele, triggering a political storm as the opposition derided the move as a coup.
Following February’s elections, Bukele’s allies now hold 61 of the 84 seats in the unicameral Congress, making him the first president in nearly three decades to have a majority in the legislature.
At its first session, the assembly dismissed all the justices of the Supreme Court’s constitutional chamber for issuing “arbitrary” judgments. The lawmakers also voted to dismiss attorney general Raul Melara, considered close to an opposition party.
“And the people of El Salvador, through their representatives, said: DISMISSED!” Bukele said triumphantly following the vote. The 39-year-old president, in power since 2019, had repeatedly clashed with the Supreme Court and the public prosecutor’s office.
Labeled by many as authoritarian, Bukele's government became mired in corruption at the outset of his term. Twenty government institutions of the Bukele administration are currently under investigation by the Attorney General's Office. Last year, Bukele was denounced for sending soldiers into the Legislative Assembly to encourage the passage of a bill and to overthrow the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador. It was also reported last year that Bukele had secretly negotiated a deal with the most powerful gang in the country, the Mara Salvatrucha. In return for more flexible prison conditions for its members and other promises, the gang reportedly pledged to reduce the number of murders and to support Bukele's political party during the elections.
The ousted Supreme Court judges, whose replacements were immediately appointed by the legislators, refused to leave their post, citing “the unconstitutionality of the decree of dismissal.” The minority opposition in parliament — the right-wing Arena party and leftist FMLN — jointly denounced the move as an attempted coup.
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