Presidential elections were held in El Salvador on 21 January 1939. The election was indirect rather than being held through a popular vote. The National Constitutional Assembly elected General Maximiliano Hernández MartÃÂnez, the incumbent president of El Salvador, to a third presidential term that would last from 1939 to 1945. He was the only candidate and won unopposed.
MartÃÂnez was constitutionally ineligible to run for re-election in 1939, so the year prior, he and the National Pro Patria Party (PNPP) held open cabildos across El Salvador and reported that the citizenry overwhelmingly supported amending the constitution to allow MartÃÂnez to be re-elected. Some politicians and military officers opposed MartÃÂnez's re-election. They spread propaganda calling for his resignation and even attempted a coup in January 1939. On 20 January 1939, the National Constitutional Assembly approved a new constitution, and the following day, it unanimously re-elected MartÃÂnez to a six-year term.
General Maximiliano Hernández MartÃÂnez became President of El Salvador in December 1931 after a coup d'état overthrew President Arturo Araujo and established a military dictatorship. MartÃÂnez solidified his position in January 1932 after suppressing an uprising and killing between 10,000 and 40,000 people in mass killings known as . MartÃÂnez won the 1935 presidential election unopposed with 329,555 on 77 percent turnout.
Ahead of the 1939 election, MartÃÂnez decided to be elected by the legislature in an indirect election instead of through a popular vote like in 1935. According to historian Erik Ching, MartÃÂnez chose to do this as he was "aware of growing opposition to his political monopoly". In order to be re-elected, however, MartÃÂnez had to amend the 1886 constitution as it prohibited re-election.
In July 1938, open cabildos were held across El Salvador where citizens would meet at town halls and approve proposed constitutional changes. The National Pro Patria Party ("National Party of the Fatherland", PNPP), the only legal political party in El Salvador, organized the meetings and reported that the citizenry was in unanimous support of the proposed changes despite no voting actually taking place.
The PNPP reported that Salvadoran citizens overwhelmingly supported the constitutional reforms and that there were "popular" rallies and parades leading up to the election. Meanwhile, some political leaders opposed MartÃÂnez's re-election. Among them were Sub-Secretary of Public Works Manuel López Harrison, Sub-Secretary of Government Hermógenes Alvarado, Sub-Secretary of Public Instruction David Rosales, and Sub-Secretary of War Colonel Ascencio Menéndez. In October 1938, a so-called "Civilian-Military Association" spread propaganda posters across Santa Ana calling for MartÃÂnez's resignation. In January 1939, Menéndez led an attempted coup against MartÃÂnez's government but it failed. The conspirators were exiled to France and Mexico.
The National Constitutional Assembly approved the new constitution on 20 January 1939. Most of the new constitution was identical to the 1886 constitution. One of the most notable differences regards article 92 that mandates that the National Constitutional Assembly would elect the next president and that whoever they elect would be exempted from article 94 that banned re-election. It also increased the lengths of presidential terms from four to six years.
On 21 January 1939, the National Constitutional Assembly convened to elect El Salvador's president for the 1939âÂÂ1945 term. The assembly unanimously voted to re-elected MartÃÂnez as President.
MartÃÂnez was inaugurated for his third term on 1 March 1939. MartÃÂnez was re-elected by the legislature to another six-year term in 1944 but he was forced to resign on 8 May 1944 during the Strike of Fallen Arms, a student protest that opposed his government. MartÃÂnez subsequently fled El Salvador on 11 May. The military itself continued to rule the country until the 1979 Salvadoran coup d'état.