El Salvador’s parliament has approved major constitutional reforms that significantly reshape the country’s political structure and election timeline.
The new bill, passed by 57 lawmakers on July 31, will allow for indefinite re-election of the president, extending the length of the president’s terms from five to six years, removing the need for a second spill in the election.
Importantly, this change also marks the end of President Naibe Bukere’s current term from June 2029 to June 2027.
Proponents of reform say the move will attract more foreign investment by increasing institutional stability, reducing election costs and providing political continuity. They also argued that overhauls were designed to “stabilise the election era” and to reduce what they described as a constant state of political campaigns.
In particular, these amendments come just a year after Bukere secured a second term despite the constitutional provisions that previously prohibited immediate reelection.
What does this mean for Bitcoin?
President Bukere positioned El Salvador as a bold experiment in crypto-driven governance. In 2021, the country made history by adopting Bitcoin as its fiat currency.
Since then, the government has built a strategic Bitcoin reserve, enabling the use of crypto for daily transactions, tax payments and public services.
With this in mind, Stacey Herbert, who heads the government’s Bitcoin office, said election reforms will allow the country to continue its current economic trajectory.
According to her:
“An era of chaos, violence and despair is forever gone. El Salvador remains on the path to greatness.”
Meanwhile, Max Kaiser, a senior adviser to Bitcoin policy, saw the reforms more fundamentally, saying that El Salvador would become Central America’s Singapore under Buquere.
He said:
“The governance model in El Salvador follows Bitcoin. It’s not a ‘democracy’, it’s a Bitcoin country. It’s a startup country. And, as I told New Yorker three years ago, Bukere is the intersection of JFK and Steve Jobs. ”
