Salvadorans began voting on Sunday to elect a new president, with former mayor Nayib Bukele as a favorite, as the traditional left-and-right-wing parties wear out due to the persistence of gang violence and high cost of living.
This day we celebrate a new civic party in honor of our democracy,”
said the president of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), Julio Olivo, on national television to announce the beginning of the elections at 07:00 local time (13:00 GMT).
Just over 5.2 million voters are called to vote in some 1,600 centers. According to the president of the TSE, the results must be known at the night, since the vote count per flag is “simple”.
It is the sixth presidential election since the country regained democracy in 1992, after 12 years of a bloody civil war and by signing peace agreements between the government and the guerrillas.
Bukele, 37, is leading the polls. He’s presenting under the banner of the conservative Great Alliance for National Unity (GANA) party, followed by supermarkets entrepreneur Carlos Calleja (42), a coalition of four right-wing parties led by Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (ARENA).
The ruling Farabundo Martí, from the Front for National Liberation (FMLN, former leftist, former guerrilla), which presents former Foreign Minister Hugo Martínez, third in the polls, also participates in this Sunday’s race; and businessman Josué Alvarado, of the minority party Vamos, without possibilities.
If no candidate obtains half plus one of the votes, there will be a second election day on March 10th to determine who will replace Salvador Sánchez Cerén in the presidency.