TITLE III. THE STATE, ITS FORM OF GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL SYSTEM
Article 83
El Salvador is a sovereign State. Sovereignty lies in the people, who exercise it in the prescribed form and within the limits of this Constitution.
Article 84
The territory of the Republic over which El Salvador exercises jurisdiction and sovereignty is irreducible, and in addition to the continental part includes:
The insular territory integrated by the islands, islets and cays enumerated by the Judgment of the Central American Court of Justice, pronounced on March 9, 1917, and also others which correspond to it according to other sources of International Law; likewise other islands, islets and cays that also correspond to it in conformity with international law.
The territorial waters and including (y en comunidad) the Fonseca Gulf, which is a historic bay with the characteristics of an enclosed sea, whose regime is determined by International Law and by the judgment mentioned in the preceding paragraph.
The air space, the subsoil and the corresponding insular and continental platform; and moreover, El Salvador exercises sovereignty and jurisdiction over the sea, the subsoil and sea beds to a distance of 200 nautical miles, counted from the level of the lowest tide, all in conformity with the regulations of international law.
The national territorial limits are the following:
- TO THE WEST, with the Republic of Guatemala, in conformity with that established in the Treaty on Territorial Limits, held in Guatemala on April 9, 1938.
TO THE NORTH, AND TO THE EAST, in part, with the Republic of Honduras, in the sections delimitated by the General Peace Treaty, signed in Lima, Peru on October 30, 1980. In regard to the pending sections of delimitation, the limits will be those established in conformity with the same Treaty, or in any event, in conformity with any of the peaceful means for solution to the international controversies. TO THE REST OF THE EAST, with the Republics of Honduras and Nicaragua in the waters of the Fonseca Gulf. AND TO THE SOUTH, with the Pacific Ocean.
Article 85
The Government is republican, democratic and representative.
The political system is pluralist and is expressed through political parties, which are the only instrument for the exercise of the representation of the people within the Government. The norms, organization and functioning shall be subject to the principles of representative democracy.
The existence of a single official party is incompatible with the democratic system and with the form of government established in this Constitution.
Article 86
All public power emanates from the people. The organs of the Government shall exercise it independently within the respective powers (atribuciones) and competences established by this Constitution and the laws. The powers of the organs of the Government cannot be delegated, but these shall collaborate amongst themselves in the exercise of the public functions.
The fundamental organs of the Government are the Legislative, the Executive, and the Judicial.
The functionaries of the Government are delegates of the people and have no more powers than those expressly given to them by the law.
Article 87
The right of the people to insurrection is recognized, for the sole object of reestablishing constitutional order altered by the transgression of the norms relative to the form of government or to the political system established, or for serious violations of the rights consecrated in this Constitution.
The exercise of this right shall not produce the abrogation nor the reform of this Constitution, and shall be limited to the removal insofar as necessary of transgressing officials, replacing them in a transitory manner until they are substituted in the form established by this Constitution.
Under no circumstances shall the powers and jurisdictions which correspond to the fundamental organs established by this Constitution be exercised by the same person or by a sole institution.
Article 88
The principle that a President cannot succeed himself (alternabilidad) is indispensable for the maintenance of the established form of government and political system. Violation of this norm makes insurrection an obligation.
Article 89
El Salvador shall encourage and promote human, economic, social and cultural integration with the American republics, and especially those of the Central American isthmus. The integration shall be carried out through treaties or agreements with the interested republics, which shall contemplate the creation of organisms with supranational functions.
It shall also propitiate the total or partial reconstruction of the Republic of Central America, in unitary, federal or confederate form, with complete guarantees of respect for democratic and republican principles and the individual and social rights of its inhabitants.
The project and basis of union shall be submitted to popular consultation.
