section_path: Presidency/Municipal and legislative reductions
section_name: Municipal and legislative reductions
paragraph_text: Municipal and legislative reductions
  
  In December 2022, Bukele tweeted that he believed that the country's 262 municipalities should be reduced to 50. He called it "absurd" (" absurdo ") that El Salvador, around 8,100 square miles (21,000 km 2) in size, had so many municipalities. Some lawyers and politicians criticized Bukele's proposed reduction as an attempt to consolidate power by gerrymandering.: 20 His allies supported the proposal, with some proposing a reduction in the number of Legislative Assembly seats.
  
  On 1 June 2023, during a speech commemorating his fourth year in office, Bukele announced that he would present two proposals to the Legislative Assembly. One sought to reduce the number of seats in the assembly from 84 to 60, and the other sought to reduce the number of municipalities from 262 to 44. Bukele justified the legislative reduction by saying that the legislature had 60 seats before the signing of the Chapultepec Peace Accords in 1992 that ended the Salvadoran Civil War, and the accords' only accomplishment was the addition of 24 seats to the legislature. About the municipal-reduction proposal, he stated that the 262 municipalities would retain their cultural identities and be classified as districts. The Legislative Assembly approved the proposal for legislative reductions on 7 June 2023, and approved the proposal for municipal reductions six days later. Both reductions became effective on 1 May 2024.
  
  In December 2022, Bukele tweeted that he believed that the country's 262 municipalities should be reduced to 50. He called it "absurd" (" absurdo ") that El Salvador, around 8,100 square miles (21,000 km 2) in size, had so many municipalities. Some lawyers and politicians criticized Bukele's proposed reduction as an attempt to consolidate power by gerrymandering.: 20 His allies supported the proposal, with some proposing a reduction in the number of Legislative Assembly seats.
  
  On 1 June 2023, during a speech commemorating his fourth year in office, Bukele announced that he would present two proposals to the Legislative Assembly. One sought to reduce the number of seats in the assembly from 84 to 60, and the other sought to reduce the number of municipalities from 262 to 44. Bukele justified the legislative reduction by saying that the legislature had 60 seats before the signing of the Chapultepec Peace Accords in 1992 that ended the Salvadoran Civil War, and the accords' only accomplishment was the addition of 24 seats to the legislature. About the municipal-reduction proposal, he stated that the 262 municipalities would retain their cultural identities and be classified as districts. The Legislative Assembly approved the proposal for legislative reductions on 7 June 2023, and approved the proposal for municipal reductions six days later. Both reductions became effective on 1 May 2024.