The party of El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele voted early on Sunday to remove the Central American country's top prosecutor.

"And the people of El Salvador, through their representatives, said: DISMISSED!" the 39-year-old president wrote on Twitter.

"With all due respect, we're cleaning our house and this isn't your responsibility," Bukele wrote, specifically addressing "the international community."

A savvy and constant user of social media, the popular Bukele stressed his desire to work with all sides.

The vote shortly after midnight to dismiss Attorney General Raul Melara followed a new legislative majority's vote on Saturday night to oust all of the judges who sit in the constitutional chamber of the nation's Supreme Court.

The five ousted judges - the most powerful jurists on the 15-member court - were among the few remaining checks on Bukele's power.

Before the dismissal, the chamber had shot down several emergency measures proposed by Bukele to manage the coronavirus epidemic, finding they violated fundamental rights.

The new parliament also voted to replace Attorney General Raul Melara over alleged ties to Arena.

Ruling party lawmakers accused Melara, whose office wields significant power to conduct investigations, of lacking independence.

While opposition parties, on the other hand, denounced the move as a "coup" while rights groups and international partners expressed grave concern even as Bukele celebrated the first step in "cleaning our house."

The Bukele-founded New Ideas Party gained an outright parliamentary majority in elections in February.

But the young president, who was elected in 2019 for a five-year term, had faced difficulty getting some programs approved in a parliament dominated by two opposition parties – the right-wing Arena and leftist FMLN.

(With input from Reuters, AFP)