Branches

Executive Branch

President of El Salvador

El Salvador elects its head of state — the President of El Salvador — directly through a fixed-date general election whose winner is decided by absolute majority. If an absolute majority (50% + 1) is not achieved by any candidate in the first round of a presidential election, then a run-off election is conducted 30 days later between the two candidates who obtained the most votes in the first round. The presidential period is five years, and re-election is not permitted.

Cabinet

The executive branch of the government of El Salvador consists of the following departments, each led by a minister:

  • Agriculture & Livestock
  • Defense
  • Economy
  • Education
  • Environment & Natural Resources
  • Finance
  • Foreign Relations
  • Government
  • Health
  • Labor & Social Welfare
  • Public Security & Justice
  • Public Works
  • Tourism
  • Attorney General

Military of El Salvador

Forces:

  • Army of El Salvador
  • Navy of El Salvador
  • Air Force of El Salvador

Legislative Branch

The Legislative Assembly (Spanish: Asamblea Legislativa) is the legislative branch of the government of El Salvador.

The Salvadoran legislature is a unicameral body. It is made up of 84 deputies, all of who are elected by direct popular vote according to closed-list proportional representation to serve three-year terms and are eligible for immediate re-election. Of these, 64 are elected in 14 multi-seat constituencies, corresponding to the country’s 14 departments, which return between 3 and 16 deputies each. The remaining 20 deputies are selected on the basis of a single national constituency.

To be eligible for election to the Assembly, candidates must be (Art. 126, Constitution):

  • Older than 25
  • Salvadoran citizens by birth, born of either a Salvadoran father or a Salvadoran mother
  • Of recognised honesty and education
  • Not have had the enjoyment of their rights as citizens cancelled in the previous five years

There is a new “political group”( but not a political party) in the legislature made up of 10 deputies who left the ARENA party, their new Name is Gran Alianza por la Unidad Nacional, or GANA.

Judicial Branch

Structure

  • Justices of the peace, personal courts that deal with cases involving smaller amounts of money or personal disputes. Cases are heard by one judge. And one judge only.
    • First instance courts (civil and criminal). Cases are heard by one judge, except in the case of sentencing when three judges make the decisions.
      • Second level courts (intermediate appeal courts). Cases are heard by three judges.
        • Supreme Court of El Salvador, consisting of 4 different chambers, 3 courts of appeal and a constitutional court.

There is also a Supreme Court for elections.

Reforms

Following the end of the Salvadoran Civil War, the Commission on the Truth for El Salvador and the Ad Hoc Commission identified weaknesses in the judiciary and recommended solutions, the most dramatic being the replacement of all the magistrates on the Supreme Court.

This recommendation was fulfilled in 1994 when an entirely new court was elected, but weaknesses remain. The process of replacing incompetent judges in the lower courts, and of strengthening the attorney generals’ and public defender’s offices, has moved more slowly.

The government continues to work in all of these areas with the help of international donors, including the United States. Action on peace accord-driven constitutional reforms designed to improve the administration of justice was largely completed in 1996 with legislative approval of several amendments and the revision of the Criminal Procedure Code with broad political consensus.