The delay in opening polling stations, riots by government officials and crowds is part of what has happened nationwide.
Thousands of Salvadorans came out in the early hours to vote to elect 84 members of the Legislative Assembly, 262 city councils and 20 representatives of the US Central Parliament (Parlacen).
According to data from the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), more than 5.3 million Salvadorans were called this Sunday to vote in the 1,595 polling stations set up across the country.
Election day passed between delays in opening polling stations, crowds and long lines of voters, in addition to some unrest involving government officials.
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The traffic on the streets of San Salvador near the polling stations was complicated, where even in the afternoon there are long lines of parked cars. Entire families came to the polls, some with pets included.
We list five things that marked this day nationwide.
Without keeping your distance, this is how you find the outskirts of the Ciudad Arce voting center, the Monseñor Romero educational complex. Photo EDH / Jonatan Funes
1. Voting centers open late
At 7 in the morning, there were already long lines of Salvadorans waiting to open the polling stations in order to exercise their vote, but they were delayed in opening them. For example, on El Hipódromo Boulevard, considered the largest voting center, JRV members received the first ballots after 7:00 in the morning.
Voters had to wait more than two hours to enter. A similar situation occurred in the polling stations in San Miguel, San Salvador, Ahuchapán and other departments where crowds were generated in which social distance was the biggest concern of those who participated in the vote. In Ahuchapán there were polling stations that opened until 9:45
2. Osiris Luna enters the polling station by force
The director general of the penal centers and the deputy minister of justice, Osiris Luna, who traveled to Guaymango, Ahuachapán, to vote was captured when the force entered with other members of Nuevas Ideas and intervened in the installation of the voting commission without being accredited. for this.
Voters at a school in Guaymango have broken down the gate of the polling station.
In a video posted by 106.9 FM Radio on her Twitter account, Luna is seen arguing with JRV members and making claims with a document in hand. The moment becomes tense when the government official argues with some people who complain that they entered by force and that they delayed the JRV trials. Luna was strongly criticized on social networks for playing in this altercation.
Read also: MINUTE BY MINUTE: Delays and congestion at polling stations, the most relevant election day in El Salvador
Luna also arrived at the Francisco Gavidia School Center in El Refugio, in the same jurisdiction, where he wanted to mediate for the representatives of the New Ideas party to join JRV without having the respective accreditation, which was questioned by the mayor. Electoral Council (JEM), Aura Lissethe Herrera.
Other sources indicated that the official identified himself as the party’s legal representative in Ahuachapán, however, he had to leave because he did not present any accreditation.
This caused dissatisfaction among Nuevas Ideas members, who began to protest outside the polling station, making it open until 9:45 in the morning.
Photo: Óscar Iraheta
3. Arrested for electoral fraud
Josué Gómez Turcios, who was identified by the PNC as a vigilante for a political party, was arrested in La Unión on charges of electoral fraud. According to the police source, Turcios voted despite being excluded from the electoral list because he was convicted of another crime.
Prosecutor General Raúl Melara said that despite being warned that it was not his responsibility to vote at the polling station, which he did not identify, the citizen ignored him, so he was captured and will be charged with the crime. of electoral fraud in the courts.
According to the Electoral Code, the punishment for these crimes will be four to six years, but if the subjects participating in the above behaviors were civil servants or election officials, they will be punished with a sentence of seven to ten years in prison. and will be disqualified from holding office.
4. Ernesto Muyshondt hopes that the security forces will not be used for electoral purposes
Ernesto Muyshondt, who is seeking re-election in the capital. Photography / Kindness
The current mayor of San Salvador, who is running for re-election, cast his vote this morning. The mayor said he was confident he would win a new term at the helm of the commune, despite the blockade of his administration by the central government.
The call of the mayor of San Salvador, Ernesto Muyshondt, was clear. That the Police and the Armed Forces are not used for electoral purposes.
“I hope they will not use the National Civil Police for electoral purposes. I would hope that today they will not use the Armed Forces for partisan political purposes. I would hope that they will continue to respect the already defective results with the fraud they have generated and which has been coming for months “, said Muyshondt. The mayor warned of the danger of using the police and the armed forces for electoral purposes.
4. The police warn Ernesto Sanabria
The press secretary of the El Salvadoran Presidency, Ernesto Sabria, was reprimanded by the National Civil Police at the Liceo Castilla Bilingual College, in Lourdes Colón, La Libertad, when he tried to take a photo of the pellet at the time of voting.
Assistants at the 4137 Voting Council, where Sanabria cast his vote, detected the defect and reported it, so PNC agents intervened. The moment was recorded in a video circulating on social networks.
5. Bukele calls for a vote for new ideas
Bukele asked the population to go out and vote in what he called “Operation Remate”: Photo: @PresidenciaSV
Republican President Nayib Bukele held a press conference in the afternoon to call on the ruling party to vote with an inclination in the midst of a period of electoral silence.
After the national chain, he arrived at 4 o’clock in the afternoon to vote for his vote on Hipódromo Boulevard with the first lady Gabriela de Bukele.
At the polling station, he did not make any statement to the press.