El Salvador is a democratic republic governed by an executive branch, a legislative branch and a judiciary.
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Executive Branch: The current chief of state is President SalvadorSanchezCeren who was elected in June 2014. The president is both the chief of state and head of government. The Vice-President is OscarOrtis. The Cabinet or the Council of Ministers is selected by the president. The latter is elected by universal suffrage by absolute majority vote and serves for a 5 year term and may not succeed himself. A second round runoff is required in the event that no candidate receives more than 50% of the first round vote.
Legislative Branch The unicameral Legislative Assembly or AsambleaLegislativa is made up of 84 seats. The members are elected by direct, popular vote whose term is three years. The last elections were held in March 2012. Members of the Assembly are elected based on the number of votes that their parties obtain in each department. The principal parties are the National Republican Alliance (ARENA), the Christian Democratic Party (PDC), and the FarabundoMartíNationalLiberationFront (FMLN). The country isdividedinto 14 departmentsor departamentos: Aluachapan, Cabanas, Chalatenango, Cuscatlan, La Libertad, La Paz, La Union, Morazan, San Miguel, San Salvador, San Vicente, Santa Ana, Sonsonate, Usulutan. |
Judicial Branch
The juridical branch is made up of the Supreme Court or CorteSuprema. All 15 judges are selected by the Legislative Assembly. They are assigned to 4 Supreme Court chambers, namely constitutional, civil, criminal and administrative.
The legal system is governed by civil law with minor common law influence. Legislative acts are subject to judicial review by the Supreme Court.