The first elections in El Salvador were held during the 1820s, shortly after its independence from the
Spanish Empire. The 1841 constitution of El Salvador mandated direct elections for the presidency and the legislature, meanwhile, municipal elections were
indirect. From 1841 to 1864, all presidents, vice presidents, and legislators had to prove they owned a certain amount of , and indirect elections were abolished in 1872. Indigenous Salvadorans were allowed to participate in elections but often faced racism and discrimination that made it difficult for them to win elections outside of indigenous-majority communities. According to German political scientist Michael Krennerich, elections between 1903 and 1931 held "little political significance" as political competition was restricted to the country's small oligarchy. During the late 1920s, President
Pío Romero Bosque attempted to implement democratic reforms, and the subsequent
1931 presidential election was described at the time as being
free and fair by election observers. Later that year, however, the military
overthrew President
Arturo Araujo and established a
military dictatorship. Until 1979, the military used elections to legitimize its rule. Several military-run political parties ruled the country between 1931 and 1979, including the
National Pro Patria Party (PNPP), the
Revolutionary Party of Democratic Unification (PRUD), and the
National Conciliation Party (PCN). During the
Salvadoran Civil War (1979–1992), elections were dominated by the
Christian Democratic Party (PDC),
Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA), and the remnants of the PCN. Left-wing parties began participating in elections in 1989. When the civil war ended, the rebel
Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) was legalized as a political party, and for the next three decades, it and ARENA were the two largest political parties in El Salvador. The ARENA–FMLN
two-party system ended when
Nayib Bukele was elected as president in 2019 and his party,
Nuevas Ideas (NI), won a
supermajority in the Legislative Assembly in 2021. On 31 July 2025, the Legislative Assembly passed constitutional reforms that altered how some Salvadoran elections would be conducted. The legislature voted to abolish presidential term limits, increased presidential term lengths from 5 to 6 years, and moved the date of the next presidential election from 2029 to
2027. The Legislative Assembly also voted to withdraw from PARLACEN, effectively canceling the 2029 PARLACEN election. In May 2026, the Legislative Assembly ratified a constitutional reform that created an overseas constituency give legislative representation to Salvadorans abroad.
Election integrity During the 19th century, many Salvadoran political leaders ignored various political rules and regulations in order to hold on to power. Historian Erik Ching described this era of Salvadoran politics as being characterized by
clientelism and
patronage, especially at the municipal level. Patrons often employed clients to influence elections, engage in political violence, and develop political networks to hold on to power. Voters were sometimes intimidated to vote in specific ways by gangs loyal to political leaders in order to monopolize voting. On several occasions, municipal councils were entirely composed of family members. Ching remarked that the "golden rule" of Salvadoran politics was "to win an election[,] a network had to monopolize the voting". He noted that several 19th century national elections produced results where candidates won unanimously in certain districts. In some instances, presidential candidates ran unopposed. El Salvador also experienced several coups during the 19th century that led to frequent changes of power. In the first three elections of the 20th century, the incumbent president chose their successors, all of whom won by large margins. Regarding the
1911 presidential election, historian Alastair White wrote that "opponents were allowed to participate but not allowed to win". Shortly after the military dictatorship rose to power in 1931, it ensured that all candidates in the
1932 legislative election were loyal to Brigadier General
Maximiliano Hernández Martínez's government. Martínez ran unopposed in three consecutive presidential elections, and in the latter two, he amended the constitution to allow himself to seek re-election. Krennerich described El Salvador during the military dictatorship as having been a "façade democracy". He further labeled the presidential and legislative elections held during the 1970s as being marked by "massive electoral fraud", noting that no official results were published in some instances. According to Krennerich, El Salvador has held free elections since 1982, but some political analysts have raised concerns of
democratic backsliding during Bukele's presidency, citing Bukele's successful
2024 re-election, a degradation of
checks and balances, and electoral reforms that benefited the ruling Nuevas Ideas. == Election schedule ==