San Salvador (El Salvador), Sep 16 (AP) President Nayib Bukele announced on Thursday night on El Salvador's Independence Day that he will seek re-election to a second five-year term.

Bukele's anticipated announcement came one year after the new justices of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court appointed by his allies in the Legislative Assembly ordered the Supreme Electoral Court to allow consecutive re-election despite the country's constitutional ban.

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Bukele made the announcement during a televised speech with his wife and young daughter at his side. Bukele's current term ends in 2024.

The president enjoys extremely high popularity, but has faced growing criticism from human rights groups and foreign governments about his concentration of power and a state of exception that has been in place suspending some constitutional rights since late March. (AP)

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(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)