San José. – In an acid test to be submitted for the first time in 20 months of the five-year period beginning June 1, 2019, the President of El Salvador, Here’s to watch, today at the polls will face the real one popular poll about the rejection or acceptance of Salvadorans for his controversial management and the future of his government, branded as authoritarian, capricious, nepotistic and intolerant.
About 5.3 million of its 6.8 million residents The Savior They will vote today from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. (central Mexico) to gather the 84 delegates to the Legislative Assembly (one-chamber Congress), the mayors, administrators and councilors of the 262 city councils and 20 delegates from the Central American Parliament (Parlacen)
The talks will be critical to the president, as he could appear strengthened or weakened in the next 40 months to rule in one of the most violent and insecure countries in America, though he will maintain the backing of two vital strands: the armed forces and the National Civil Police – on which he established his political platform.
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“What is at stake is the balance of power of democracy,” warned Salvadoran businessman Javier Simán, president of the National Association of Private Enterprise.ANEP
“The Bukele government has conducted a political campaign since taking office nearly two years ago, discrediting the delegates, political parties and anyone else who thinks otherwise, provoking hostility towards other parties and seeking a majority in the Assembly”, said Simán. THE UNIVERSAL
“We would like to see a balanced Assembly, in which no party has total control, let alone the executive branch controls it. That’s the balance of power. The executive wants to have all the power of the state apparatus, ”he confirmed.
Today’s elections are vital to Bukele, who is already seasoned in his day-to-day tactics of moving to the red social Twitter and to other social networks to reject and deny all questions from their opponents.
Opponents described Bukele, 39, as a threat to the young and fragile Salvadoran democracy, barely spawned in 1992 from a civil war between the right-wing forces and left-wing guerrillas that broke out in 1980, killing him 75 to 80 thousand and deep internal social unrest. solved.
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During a hectic journey, the president amassed accusations from his rivals that he is authoritarian, rules for his family and associates, leads the country aimlessly, and never supports criticism.
On February 9, 2020, during one of the most important events of the post-war period and sponsored by military and police forces, Bukele marched to and forcibly occupied the Assembly to demand the approval of a security plan in a threat to constitutional order. Bukele rejected any attack for that act.
Political map
Bukele must have joined the right wing Grand Alliance for National Unity (PROFIT) to compete and win in the 2019 presidential election, but he ran without his own legislative bench. GANA won 10 seats, but the Assembly was under traditional governance. The opposition and the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) achieved 35 and the opposition, leftist and ex-guerrilla Farabundo Martí Front for National Liberation (FMLN) reached 23, while the rest were divided into minority parties.
Against this backdrop, today’s struggle appears to be characterized by three groups: ARENA, FMLN and Nuevas Ideas, Bukele’s right-wing party with which he will attempt today to build a parliamentary bastion to rule at will. ARENA ruled from 1989 to 2009 and FMLN from 2009 to 2019, in a two-tiered system that was finally defeated by Bukele two years ago.
The president faces the challenge, always with his GANA partners, to get 43 legislators for an absolute majority and 56 for a qualified majority. The alternates are elected for three years from 1 May and can be re-elected for an indefinite period.
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“The time has come for one new Legislative Assembly with delegates who actually work for Salvadorans, ”New Ideas announced on their social networks.
“The time has come to end corruption” and to “write the second part of El Salvador’s political history”, the ruling party proclaimed.
When he warned his followers that “mass voting kills fraud”, he urged them that today “we should all mark” on the ballots the N for Nueva Imagen and “Nayib” because “the same time has always come and they already go outside. ”.
To attack
The opposition never spared actions to fight the head of state at the center of electoral struggles. “Bukele has greatly affected the dignity of the office,” said the Salvadoran deputy Rodolfo Párker, general secretary of the opposition Christian Democratic party and candidate for re-election to the assembly.
The President “had the primary responsibility to seek harmony among the Salvadoran people, he has aroused much hatred and divided us. In this context, the challenge today is to defend the separation of powers, the rule of law and accountability, which Bukele does not comply with, ”Párker told this newspaper.
“Today the future of El Salvador will be marked,” said the Salvadoran woman. Claudia de Avila, candidate for alternate for ARENA. “Even at the time of the war, we were not in as much danger of institutional weakening as that caused by Bukele,” he stressed, consulted by this newspaper.
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“It doesn’t respect the Assembly, the Supreme Court or the Constitutional Chamber. It assigned millions of dollars from the state to publicize the ruling party’s political campaign, which is in unequal competition with the rest of the parties. It occupies the state apparatus to manipulate, ”he accused.
Bukele “is pursuing absolute power: they want to make El Salvador a dictatorship,” he stated.
The forecasts indicated that the first official results will be released tonight and that Bukele will know the balance of the acid test.