El Salvador’s Supreme Court on Monday suspended the anti-coronavirus state of emergency declared by President Nayib Bukele, saying the decree’s extension was unlawful.
Bukele signed a presidential decree extending anti-coronavirus measures on Saturday, a day before the restrictions were set to expire, without seeking Congress approval.
Critics and lawmakers accused the President of overstepping his authority.
On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that the power to extend anti-coronavirus measures resides with the Congress, and ordered the presidential decree to be suspended with immediate effect.
The Supreme Court urged the President and Congress to “act together” in order to present a new emergency decree as soon as possible, according to the text of the resolution.
Bukele reacted to the resolution in a tweet Monday, accusing the court of breaking constitutional order.
“Who is invading whose functions? Who’s breaking the constitutional order?” he tweeted.
El Salvador first implemented anti-coronavirus measures on March 14, one of the first countries in Central America to impose a lockdown.
The country has confirmed 1,413 cases and 30 deaths from the virus, according to Johns Hopkins University.
