Bukele is preparing to win elections in El Salvador

Nayib Bukele is rapidly moving towards new elections in El Salvador. The country’s president will almost certainly win again in elections this Sunday that will keep him in power for the next five years. Bukele has become hugely popular for dismantling the gangs that had turned El Salvador into one of the most dangerous countries in the world for two decades. The murder rate has gone down and extortion has been minimal. Since then the army has flooded the streets…

Nayib Bukele is rapidly moving towards new elections in El Salvador. The country’s president will almost certainly win again in elections this Sunday that will keep him in power for the next five years. Bukele has become hugely popular for dismantling the gangs that had turned El Salvador into one of the most dangerous countries in the world for two decades. The murder rate has gone down and extortion has been minimal. The army has flooded the streets since the state of emergency was declared two years ago, which remains in force today. Due to its harsh policy, it has filled the jails with more than 70,000 new prisoners. The 42-year-old millennial president has revolutionized the country.

In turn, thousands of innocent people have been arrested and basic social freedoms have been suspended, according to international organizations. US officials have gone as far as comparing Bukele to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. He has mocked this on social media and responded that it is the United States that should hold free and fair elections in 2024. The president of this small Central American nation dismissed Supreme Court judges two years ago and appointed judges in their place. Concerned criminal lawyer who has reinterpreted the Salvadoran Constitution to allow him to run for a second consecutive term, something that was prohibited until now. After this Sunday, the Legislative Assembly will also be formed with the majority of Bukele’s party.

The international community has become concerned about what it perceives as an authoritarian drift. However, members of the Salvadoran government do not seem too concerned about it. Vice Presidential candidate Felix Ulloa has told the new York Times Its aim is to end what it considers a flawed democracy. “For these people who say that democracy is being destroyed. My answer is yes. We’re not dismantling it, we’re dismantling it, we’re replacing it with something new,” said Ulloa, one of the people closest to the president. Bukele’s election message is very simple. The repression of gangs will continue with him in power. Selection of opposition – Arena, right side; or FMLN, from the left – it means opening prison doors for criminals, without that necessarily being true.

The message has been firmly entrenched. According to surveys his popularity is more than 80%. Both the major parties which were in power alternately till now have practically been destroyed. Nuevas Ideas, the formation Bukele created to compete in the last elections in 2019, has brought together all the forces. The streets are filled with their propaganda, while opposition advertisements are almost impossible to find. One-party policy seems to rule. After decades of incompetence and corruption, Salvadorans have turned their back on traditional politics.

Bukele has become a global phenomenon. His years as a publicist at a company owned by his father, a wealthy man of Palestinian origin, taught him to sell himself as a brand. And it works. His videos on social networks have a cinematic quality and show a country that is often difficult to recognise. Aerial photos of the megajail built to hold alleged terrorists have been seen by millions of people around the world. In these infomercials he always looks immaculate, with a perfectly shaped beard, combed-back hair, and jeans and a backwards hat that give him a youthful air. A dozen Venezuelan advisers working with US-appointed interim Venezuelan President Juan Guaido are busy shaping his image.

Imitators have emerged in the state. Ecuador’s new President Daniel Noboa has promised to implement El Salvador’s policies to stop the wave of killings and violence ongoing in his country. At present, it has announced the construction of two prisons to house the gang members. For Bukele, if success is measured by his popularity, it has worked for him. They don’t even have to campaign for these elections, they just have to spread the word on their social networks. He is rarely seen and appears in interviews with uncritical YouTubers whenever he appears. Even some parents whose children have been locked up in prisons that cost the world to get out of because due process is violated will also turn a blind eye this Sunday to Bukele. Will vote for. Today, nothing stands between them and absolute power.

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