Salvadoran president assumes control of congress
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — Populist President Nayib Bukele appeared Monday to have won control of El Salvador’s unicameral congress, ending a two-year standoff with legislators of the old parties that have dominated politics in the Central American country since the end of the 1980-1992 civil war.
Bukele, 39, celebrated, writing, “Our people have waited 40 years for this.”
A preliminary count of about 80 percent of votes from Sunday’s elections showed Bukele’s New Ideas party and a coalition partner won several times as many votes as the established political parties, the conservative National Republican Alliance and the leftist Farabundo Marti Liberation Front. Exit polls suggested his party could win 53 of the 84 seats in the Legislative Assembly.
“His (Bukele’s) victory reflects how much anger most Salvadorans feel towards the country’s two discredited and moribund political parties, which had their chance to govern but failed,” wrote Michael Shifter, president of the Washington-based think tank Inter-american Dialogue.
Bukele has blamed congress for blocking his efforts in everything from controlling crime to managing the coronavirus pandemic. But he has also shown an authoritarian streak. Two years ago, Bukele sent heavily armed soldiers to surround the congress building during a standoff over security funding.
About 51 percent of El Salvador’s 5.3 million registered voters turned out for Sunday’s election, will which also decide 262 municipal councils.
“This is what the people, the downtrodden, were waiting for,” construction worker Salvador Torres said. “We are tired of promises. They took all the money,” he said, referring to leaders of the two old-guard parties.