Supreme Electoral Tribunal failure taints Bukele’s landslide victory in El Salvador

Nayib Bukele declared himself President-elect of El Salvador before the first official results were released. He made the assurance on the X Network (formerly Twitter), which has nearly six million followers. Won with more than 85% of the votes and “at least 58 out of 60 delegates”. In the Salvadoran Legislative Assembly. And he ended his message with a catchy phrase: “A record in the entire democratic history of the world.”

And he began receiving congratulations from international leaders such as the presidents of Guatemala, Paraguay, Honduras, Panama, the embassies of China and Mexico, and even the acting president of the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean. When Supreme Electoral Tribunal unable to show participation rate in elections or produce minimum official results on legislative elections no later than 20 hours after polling booths close.

Polls predicted a landslide victory for the President Violated several articles of the Constitution Running for a prohibited re-election, therefore, did not require an arrogant, pompous and arrogant attitude towards one’s political rivals.

We had to wait until yesterday Monday morning to officially learn that with just over 70% of the vote, Bukele had received 83% of the vote compared to less than 17% of the other five candidates’ combined votes. , a resounding victory It was tainted by the failure of the main electoral body, with a $70 million budget, to do its job well.

At polling stations in Colonia Escalón de San Salvador, which has never been dominated by brutal gangs and where very wealthy families live, he won with at least 55% of the votes. It was predictable that there would be a landslide victory in a popular neighborhood plagued by levels of violence unparalleled in the world and lasting for decades.

Bukele already achieved a historic milestone in 2019 when he won with an absolute majority of 53% and ended three decades of bipartisanship. The far-right Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) and the leftist Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) were formed from guerrillas who waged a 12-year civil war against the Salvadoran state in the late 1980s and early 1980s. , The two parties are unable to end the violence and several former presidents are seeking justice for unprecedented levels of corruption.

Salvadorans are relieved by the imprisonment of thousands of gang members from Mara Salvatrucha, Barrio 18 and other smaller gangs and enthusiastically applaud Bukele’s “iron fist” policy at the expense of the implementation of an extraordinary regime from March 2022 under which The current presidential and legislative elections and municipal elections scheduled to take place within a month have concluded.

“The gang phenomenon was very aggressive in the most affected communities”, recalled Spanish-born journalist Roberto Valencia in a television program. It affected all activities of life: teenagers went to school in fear, taxi drivers and bus drivers had to pay a percentage of their income to avoid being murdered, even small businessmen were affected by the mafia. As soon as the sun went down, the streets would become empty and residents would remain confined to their large, barred houses in fear of attacks.

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Bukele said this “There was metastasis in El Salvador, but we did the surgery, now we are going through radiotherapy and we are going to come out healthy without gangrene cancer”, Criticism from international organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch for the detention of thousands of innocent people and abuse of power has been very poorly digested by the President. Always remember that El Salvador was the “murder capital of the world” and therefore, “it also has the highest incarceration rate today.”

‘El Faro’, a respected Salvadoran digital newspaper that has had to deport several of its journalists to Costa Rica and Mexico, made harsh accusations against Bukele, accusing him of “committing fraud to establish a dictatorship”. Other international newspapers, including some Spanish media, have been highly critical of the President’s behavior since his decision to run for re-election.

they are accused Replace Supreme Court judges who criticize your decisions Economically blocking political opposition by others close to their interests, by threatening businessmen who support other candidates, and by using state funds to run electoral campaigns. and used the Legislative Assembly controlled by his party to reinterpret the Constitution and hold re-elections, which is prohibited in El Salvador.

Despite the vagaries and eccentricities of someone who is beginning to define himself “The world’s most brilliant dictator”, Bukele enjoys the most popularity as a leader throughout Latin America due to his dismantling of criminal gang structures, which has improved the lives of citizens living under terror.

In his self-proclamation speech as president in front of thousands of followers, he said on Sunday night that “his candidacy has won by the largest margin in the history of the second classified vote” and assured that “it will be the first time” that In a country “in a democratic system, a single party destroys the entire opposition.”

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He was extremely critical of the international press, especially the Spanish press. ,Salvadorans choose their own path. We love Spain and we want nothing but respect. “We respect your hereditary monarchy and you should do the same with our process,” he shouted from the balcony of the National Palace. Tested your recipes for 50 years and they never worked.

Bukele stressed that it had “gone from the most unsafe country in the world to the safest country in the entire Western Hemisphere.” And he wondered why the human rights of gang members were more legitimate than those of civilians who suffered from their violence. “Why aren’t journalists happy that El Salvador is no longer bleeding?”. he asked himself. And he ended his slogan with “They fear the power of example.”