Durán becomes the new mayor according to 89.45% of the minutes examined. While the current mayor, Ernesto Muyshondt, said the attacks against him were outrageous, but he respected the voters’ decision.
Mario Durán, candidate of New Ideas, becomes the new mayor of San Salvador after defeating his contender Ernesto Muyshondt, of the ARENA party, who was aiming for a second term as head of the municipality, according to preliminary data from the count of the minutes of the Court. Electoral Supreme.
For his part, at a Monday afternoon press conference, Muyshondt thanked those who supported him during his tenure as mayor of San Salvador.
“In recent months, this has been the most flawed process in our country’s electoral and democratic history. We are not facing an adversary, but a state campaign involving arbitrary and crude use of state resources, institutions and not only to promote official candidates, but also to prosecute, harass those they consider their opponents , to harm. Politicians, ”said Muyshondt.
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The former mayor of San Salvador assured that the attack on his person, family and candidate over the months was outrageous. He also explained that not paying the Fodes was a strategy so that the mayors did not carry out works and influenced them politically.
He described the election process as a constant violation of “never seen before” laws. However, he said he respected the voters’ decision.
“We respect the people’s decision and we will do everything we can to make a transparent and orderly transition from the San Salvador mayor’s office to the people who will come to rule it,” he said.
“We will always continue to fight for our homeland, our democracy, our people, especially the most vulnerable people, our city and all Salvadorans,” he added.
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In his farewell address, he also took a moment to refer to the actions of the executive: “Today there are no excuses for the government, today it will no longer be blamed on a legislative assembly for its failures. Now he will no longer have opposition mayors to be blocked, to be attacked or not to pay the Fodes. The time has come to demonstrate and emphasize and not blame or look guilty, ”he said.
By 3 p.m. Monday afternoon, 475 of the total of 531 records had been processed, preliminary data from the TSE outlined him as the capital commune winner with 89.45 percent of the records examined.
While the ARENA party adds 56,838 votes from the total of records processed.
Durán was declared the winner this Monday morning via his Twitter account, where he changed the information on his profile and described himself as “Elected Mayor of the capital of El Salvador.”
Later, his party also supported Durán’s announcement through a publication on the social network.
“The @nuevasideas are returning to San Salvador! @Marioduran, Mayor!”
Also: view the preliminary results of the 2021 elections in real time here
On February 28, Durán cast the vote at the Manuel José Arce National Institute, in the Modelo neighborhood of San Salvador, where he arrived accompanied by a group of supporters.
Durán’s election comes amid allegations of alleged corruption while accompanying Bukele in his tenure as head of the main commune from 2015-2018. The political opposition has also indicated that the government has used public funds to run an election campaign in favor of its allied parties New Ideas and Grand Alliance for National Unity (GANA).
On February 28, a total of 17,074 candidates were elected in a day that highlighted the crowds and long lines at the voting centers.
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According to data from the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), more than 5.3 million voters were called to vote in the 8,451 polling stations in the 1,595 voting centers around the country.
Despite the influx of Salvadorans into the polls, some polling stations registered less than half of their electoral roll, as was the case with JRV in Santa Ana, Apopa and Moncagua.