El Salvador's lawmakers have adopted a constitutional reform to abolish presidential term limits and allow current leader Nayib Bukele — who enjoys overwhelming majority support in parliament — to run indefinitely.

The reform, reviewed under an expedited procedure and which also extends the term in office from five to six years, was adopted in a 57-3 vote on Thursday.

Lawmaker Ana Figueroa from the New Ideas party had proposed the changes to five articles of the constitution.

The proposal also included eliminating the second round of the election where the two top vote-getters from the first round face off.

New Ideas and its allies in the National Assembly quickly approved the proposals with the supermajority they hold.

Bukele overwhelmingly won reelection last year despite a constitutional ban, after Supreme Court justices selected by his party ruled in 2021 that it allowed reelection to a second five-year term.

Fight against street gangs

Figueroa argued on Thursday that federal lawmakers and mayors can already seek reelection as many times as they want.

"All of them have had the possibility of reelection through popular vote, the only exception until now has been the presidency," Figueroa said.

She also proposed that Bukele's current term, scheduled to end June 1, 2029, instead finish June 1, 2027, to put presidential and congressional elections on the same schedule. It would also allow Bukele to seek reelection to a longer term two years earlier.

Bukele is highly popular, largely because of his heavy-handed fight against the country's powerful street gangs.

Voters have been willing to overlook evidence that his administration like others before it had negotiated with the gangs, before seeking a state of emergency that suspended some constitutional rights and allowed authorities to arrest and jail tens of thousands of people.

His success with security and politically has inspired imitators in the region who seek to replicate his style.