At Stake in this Election:

• All 60 seats of the Salvadoran Legislative Assembly

The presidential election will occur concurrently.

Government Structure:

• Chief of State: President Nayib BUKELE (since 1 June 2019)
  • Claudia Juan RODRÍGUEZ de Guevara has served as acting president since 1 December 2023 while BUKELE participates in the presidential election cycle.
• Head of Government: President Nayib BUKELE (since 1 June 2019)
• Assembly: unicameral Legislative Assembly (Asamblea Legislativa) with 60 seats

Electoral System:

• The President is directly elected (along with the Vice-President) by absolute majority vote in up to two rounds. The President may serve one 5-year term.
• In the Legislative Assembly, all 60 members are directly elected via open-list proportional representation vote from multi-seat constituencies. All members serve 3-year terms

Last Election:

In the 2021 legislative election, the New Ideas party won a majority with 46 seats. Eight other parties also won seats, and voter turnout was 48.56%.

New/Unique in this Election:

In June 2023, the Legislative Assembly passed a law reducing its own size from 84 seats to 60 seats.

Key Deadlines:

• Candidate filing deadline: 26 October 2023
• Voter registration deadline: 6 October 2023

Main Parties in this Election:

• New Ideas / Nuevas Ideas (N)
  • Leader: Xavier Zablah BUKELE
  • Seats won in last election: 46 out of 84
• Great Alliance for National Unity / Gran Alianza por la Unidad Nacional (GANA)
  • Leader: Nelson GUARDADO
  • Seats won in last election: 10 out of 84
• Nationalist Republican Alliance / Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (ARENA)
  • Leader: Carlos SAADE
  • Seats won in last election: 9 out of 84
• Farabundo Martí Front for National Liberation / Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN)
  • Leader: Óscar ORTIZ
  • Seats won in last election: 4 out of 84
• National Coalition Party / Partido de Concertación Nacional (PCN)
  • Leader: Manuel RODRÍGUEZ
  • Seats won in last election: 1 out of 84
• Our Time / Nuestro Tiempo (NT)
  • Leader: Andy FAILER
  • Seats won in last election: 1 out of 84
• Democratic Christian Party / Partido Demócrata Cristiano (PDC)
  • Leader: Reynaldo CARBALLO
  • Seats won in last election: 1 out of 84
• Democratic Change / Cambio Democratico (CD)
  • Leader: Javier MILIÁN
  • Seats won in last election: 0 out of 84
• Solidarity Force / Fuerza Solidaria (FS)
  • Leader: Rigoberto SOTO
  • Seats won in last election: 0 out of 84
• VAMOS
  • Leader: Cesia RIVAS
  • Seats won in last election: 0 out of 84
• PDC – PCN Coalition / Coalición PDC – PCN
  • Seats won in last election: 0 out of 84

Population and Registered Voters:

• Population: 6,336,390 (2022 est.)
• Registered Voters: 6,214,399 (2024)

Gender Data:

• Female Population: 3,319,860 (2022 est.)
• CEDAW Status: Signed 14 November 1980, Ratified 19 August 1981
• Gender Quota:  At least 30% of candidates must be women on each party list for legislative elections.
• Female Candidates in this election: Yes
• Number of Female Legislators (pre-election): 23 out of 84 (27.4%) in the Legislative Assembly
• Human Development Index (HDI) Position: 0.675, Medium, Rank 125 (2021)
• Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: 19.6 (2023)

Disability Data:

• CRPD Status: Signed 30 March 2007, Ratified 14 December 2007
• Projected population with a disability: 1,013,822 (2022 est.)

IFES Resources:

• Does IFES have a presence in El Salvador: Yes, country office  
• Election Access: Yes
• Election Judgements: Yes, 2 judgements and 6 resources