Bukele's Populism and Crisis of Deliberation in El Salvador

Amidst applause and ballots, leaders are no longer born from a system of violence, but are born from the love of the people. That is the beauty of democracy: a magnificent stage where anyone can rule, as long as they know how to speak like the people, dress like the people, and get angry like the people. Power is no longer inherited or seized, but is won through a contest of perceptions broadcast live through mobile phone layers. Elections are no longer a contest of ideas, but an arena for marketing identity. Because in the world of digital democracy, power is no longer about noble descent, but about who is the best at playing algorithms and policy illusions, thus giving birth to modern populism: the legitimate child of procedural democracy and digital intelligence.

Nayib Bukele: Populism as a Strategy for Representing the People

In Margaret Cannovan's view (1999), populism is a call from the "people" who oppose the elite and existing structures. In this case, populism often emphasizes the simplicity of the people's virtue compared to the simplicity of the elite. Cass Mudde (2004) sharpens the definition by referring to populism as a thin ideology that divides society into 'pure people' against 'corrupt elites' and emphasizes moral claims. This division will later give rise to a situation of 'us against them'. By understanding the meaning of populism, it can be seen that many leaders build their image as people who stand with the people, to gain sympathy from the people. One of them is Nayib Bukele, a man of Palestinian descent who is currently the legitimate holder of power in El Salvador, one of the small countries in Central America flanked by Honduras and Guatemala. Bukele was just re-elected in the general election after El Salvador's constitutional court allowed re-election in 2024 yesterday (Tempo, 2024). Bukele is very clever in exploiting what has become the needs of the community. "He is only interested in his image," said Bertha Deleon (Tempo, 2024). In Bukele's hands, social media is the main stage for him to build an image as a leader who will do everything for the people. He knows very well that the existence of Gangs is something that is considered disturbing to the people of El Salvador and he sees them as victims of past crimes, and it must be admitted that since Bukele was appointed president of El Salvador, the crime rate has decreased drastically and made El Salvador the safest country in Latin America. Even in May 2023, the president stated that there had been no murders in the past year (Winoto, 2025).

But like any populist narrative, the question to be answered is not just whether the results were good, but how they were achieved. In the 2024 El Salvador election, Bukelele claimed that he had won more than 85% of the vote. But behind this landslide victory was the arrest of 76,000 civilians considered gangsters without due process and the overhaul of El Salvador's constitution in 2021 that allowed Bukelele to run for president for a second time.

Jurgen Habermas's deliberative democracy

The word "deliberation" comes from the Latin word "deliberatio" which can be interpreted as "to weigh up" or "to deliberate". Deliberative democracy occurs when the process of providing reasons for a public policy is first tested through public consultation (Muthhar, 2016). In this case, deliberative democracy emphasizes the importance of public participation that is dialogical and synthetic in nature, and is rooted in facts without discrimination and is not doctrinaire. The role of society in democracy is considered very important. This role can only be realized if there is good communication between society and leaders.

Mass Arrests and Constitutional Overhaul

The portrayal of Bukele as a representative of "the people" is used as political legitimacy for a policy of widespread repression. Since the imposition of a state of emergency in March 2022, the Salvadoran government has arrested more than 58,000 people, including more than 1,600 children (Hrw, 2022), many of whom were arrested without due process, simply on suspicion of being gang members. These detentions make El Salvador the country with the highest per capita imprisonment rate in the world (Human Rights Watch, 2023). Not only that, in May 2021, the pro-Bukele parliamentary majority dismissed five constitutional court judges overnight, then appointed Bukele loyalists (Reuters, 2021). This was done to pave the way for a reinterpretation of article 152 of the constitution, allowing for direct presidential re-election. This manipulation of the institution occurred without a referendum or formal amendment, only through politically biased mechanisms, for his own electoral victory.

Analysis of Populist Practices as a Threat to Deliberative Democracy

Referring to Habermas's deliberative democracy framework, political legitimacy can only be obtained through an inclusive rational communication process in the public sphere. According to Habermas, the discursive arena is where citizens can rationally discuss public interests and influence political actions without coercion from the state or market. Habermas (1996) also stated that democracy is not just about the majority vote, but is obtained through a discourse process that leads to rational consensus. In other words, the public must be an arena where citizens' opinions can be critically tested, not controlled by a populist image. However, in the practice of Nayib Bukele's government, social media, which is a space for arguments for all elements of society, has become a place for Bukele to build his populist image. Bukele defines "the people" as those who are afraid of gangs and support his firm actions. Those who ask critical questions are considered opponents and threaten the "truth of the people". This clearly contradicts Habermas's principle that all citizens must have equal opportunities in discourse. If the public sphere turns into an arena for imaging, the legitimacy of the people is no longer achieved through discourse, but only through the agreement of the majority.

Furthermore, the unilateral dismissal of the Constitutional Court judges by the pro-Bukele parliament in May 2021 was not only a political act, but also a reflection of the breakdown of deliberative discourse in state policy-making. The absence of a defense mechanism or procedural transparency in the dismissal process indicates that the decision was taken without adequate public discussion. Moreover, the purpose of this step, namely to pave the way for a reinterpretation of the constitution to allow for the re-election of the president, shows how power is used not to respond to the needs of citizens in a deliberative manner, but to secure the continuation of individual power.

In the context of deliberative democracy, this action violates the most fundamental principle, namely rational, inclusive decision-making through public consensus. As emphasized by Habermas, legitimacy can only be obtained when policies are tested in the public space through arguments that are acceptable to all parties. However, in this case, the opposite happened: procedures were bypassed, the judiciary was silenced, and decisions were made with the claim of sole representation of "the people." This is in line with the critique of populism, where the interests of political elites are packaged as the will of the people, and used to eliminate the opposition and the rational process that should test every state policy. In other words, the dismissal of judges is not just a political maneuver, but part of a structural engineering to eliminate institutions that can hinder authority, while also stifling the voices of the opposition. The public space, which should be an arena for the formation of critical and rational opinions, is dwarfed into a stage for the dominance of a single discourse that monopolizes claims to morality and legitimacy.

References

Canovan, M. (1999). Trust the people! Populism and the two faces of democracy. Political Studies, 47(1), 2--16. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9248.00184

Holland, O., & Torres, E. (2021, May 2). Bukele allies seek judges' ouster as new Congress convenes in El Salvador. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/bukele-allies-seek-judges-ouster-new-congress-convenes-el-salvador-2021-05-02/

Human Rights Watch. (2022, December 7). "We can arrest anyone we want": Widespread human rights violations under El Salvador's "state of emergency". https://www.hrw.org/report/2022/12/07/we-can-arrest-anyone-we-want/widespread-human-rights-violations-unde

Mudde, C. (2004). The populist zeitgeist. Government and Opposition, 39(4), 541--563. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1477-7053.2004.00135.x

Muthhar, M. A. (2020). Membaca demokrasi deliberatif Jurgen Habermas dalam dinamika politik Indonesia. Wawasan: Jurnal Ilmiah Agama dan Sosial Budaya, 5(2), 49--59. https://media.neliti.com/media/publications/338519-membaca-demokrasi-deliberatif-jurgen-hab-060173aa.pdf

Torres, E. (2021, September 4). El Salvador top court rules presidents can serve two consecutive terms. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/el-salvador-top-court-rules-presidents-can-serve-two-consecutive-terms-2021-09-04/