El Salvador's new assembly votes to oust high chamber judges

El Salvador’s new Legislative Assembly, controlled by President Nayib Bukele’s New Ideas party, held its first session Saturday with lawmakers voting to remove the magistrates of the constitutional chamber of the Supreme Court

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador -- El Salvador’s new Legislative Assembly, controlled by President Nayib Bukele’s New Ideas party, held its first session Saturday with lawmakers voting to remove the magistrates of the constitutional chamber of the Supreme Court. The assembly voted 64 to 19 with one abstention to oust the five magistrates on the chamber, which had angered Bukele by ruling against some of his tougher measures during the pandemic. Ruling party lawmakers defended the decision, saying the court had put private interests above the health and welfare of the people, while the opposition called it a power grab by a populist president seeking total control. “This is an outrage against the Republic and democracy,” the conservative opposition National Republican Alliance, or ARENA, said on its Twitter account.