President Nayib Bukele received the official nomination of his Nuevas Ideas party for the 2027 presidential election, clearing the path for a third consecutive term. The party’s internal elections, held nationwide among affiliates, confirmed Bukele as the presidential candidate after he registered as the sole pre-candidate weeks earlier. Vice President Félix Ulloa was nominated alongside him to complete the ticket.
Xavi Zablah Bukele, the party’s president and the president’s cousin, announced the registration of both men on June 29, 2026. “We are ready,” he stated while sharing the official documents stamped by the party’s National Electoral Commission. The July 12 primary faced no challengers for the presidential ticket, as expected.
Nuevas Ideas published the results of the internal vote, listing Bukele as the winner based on votes from national territory and the overseas constituency. The party’s official site displayed the outcome confirming him as the nominee for the presidency.
The nomination became possible after the Legislative Assembly, controlled by Nuevas Ideas, approved and ratified constitutional reforms on July 31, 2025. Those changes removed presidential term limits entirely, extended the presidential term from five to six years, eliminated runoff elections, and shortened Bukele’s current term so that general elections would take place in February 2027.
Bukele first took office on June 1, 2019. He began a second term on June 1, 2024, following a 2021 constitutional chamber ruling that allowed consecutive re-election and a landslide victory. The 2025 reforms now open the door for him to seek another six-year term starting in June 2027. If elected, he would remain in office until 2033.
In a December 2025 interview, Bukele said he was open to remaining in power for another decade. He turns 45 in July 2026 and continues to hold high public approval, driven largely by the sharp drop in homicides under the state of emergency that has been in place since 2022.
General elections are scheduled for February 28, 2027. Voters will choose the president, all 60 legislative seats, and municipal councils on the same day under the synchronized calendar established by the reforms. Parties must register their candidates with the Supreme Electoral Tribunal in the coming weeks.
Bukele and Ulloa have run together since 2019. In the 2024 election, Bukele received 84.65 percent of the valid votes, more than 2.7 million ballots, the largest presidential victory in the country’s recent history.
The party’s internal process also selected candidates for the Legislative Assembly and the 44 municipalities. Results for those races were released alongside the presidential nomination. El Salvador’s next presidential term will last six years under the new rules. The February 2027 vote will determine who leads the country through 2033.
