El Salvador's electoral court has settled the dispute over the results of elections that gave President Nayib Bukele a landslide victory. The body reported that it had completed the counting of votes for the appointment of deputies to the National Assembly, despite criticism from the opposition, whose weak leadership had said it would call for a repeat parliamentary election. The vote tally represents a large majority for Bukele's Nuevas Ideas party, cementing it as the main political force in the small Central American country. The controversial president received 2.7 million votes, representing 84% of the electoral roll. Bukele celebrated the victory without inflammatory speeches, only by posting this Monday on his X-profile (formerly Twitter) a video of the gathering of thousands of his supporters in front of the presidential palace in San Salvador on election night.
Election authorities announced a recount of congressional votes a week ago after opposition parties and media lodged complaints of irregularities picked up by the Organization of American States (OAS) observation mission. Without waiting for the court to officially announce the results, Bukele had declared that his party would receive 58 of the 60 members of the legislature, although the results have not yet been officially announced, which is expected to be the case on Monday evening.
The opposition has reported that it will call on the authorities to repeat the parliamentary elections. The right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) has joined two other small parties to call for new elections. “As a right-wing party, as a conservative party, we have joined the call for the annulment of the parliamentary elections because we will always be defenders of the democracy of freedom,” said Carlos Saade, leader of this group.
📴 The President of @ARENAOFICIALCarlos Saade, said that their structures requested to request the annulment of the elections and that they therefore supported this request together with their sister parties Vamos and Nuestro Tiempo. pic.twitter.com/BzeZs5Si4L
— GatoEncerrado Magazine (@GatoEncerradoSV) February 19, 2024
“Something smells very bad,” the politician added. “There was fraud in this election, which is why we denounce its annulment. There were irregularities and manipulations in the electoral system,” he assured. It is very unlikely that the opposition's demand will be successful. According to preliminary data, ARENA has two deputies in Congress, while the left-wing FMLN, formerly the second largest political force, has been expelled from the chamber.
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