El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele officially filed paperwork Thursday to re-run for the presidential position next year, even though there were concerns regarding his constitutional eligibility to run for a consecutive term.
The paperwork took place one year after Bukele announced that he would run for elections again in 2024, Reuters reported.
Critics have questioned the president's decision to run for the same position for consecutive terms. However, the country's top court ruled in 2021 that Bukele can run for 2024 elections.
Bukele became the president of the smallest country in Latin America in 2019. It was under his presidency that El Salvador became the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender alongside USD.
Apart from 42-year-old Bukele, five more presidential candidates were running for the office -- Joel Sánchez from the Nationalist Republican Alliance party, Manuel Flores from Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front, Luis Parada from Nuestro Tiempo, Javier Renderos from Solidarity Force, and Marina Murillo from Salvadoran Patriotic Fraternity.
The Center for Citizen Studies at the Francisco Gavidia University conducted a poll that showed almost 70% support the current president's government. The popularity of the president in the country increased since he fought back with violent gangs.
His government has arrested more than 75,000 suspected gang members till now, leading to a reduction in El Salvador's crime rate.
However, the opposition has alleged the current government was imprisoning innocents, adding that it violated basic due process rights as these people can't hire a legal defense.
The upcoming elections, which will be held on Feb. 4, will elect the president, vice president, and all 60 deputies of the Legislative Assembly.
Last week, Bukele said that he was expecting to reach an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after the country's general elections in 2024.
Director of the IMF's Western Hemisphere Department, Rodrigo Valdes, also opened up about the meeting with the president and called it "a first step" toward the agreement.
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