San José. – In an acid test to be presented for the first time in 20 months of the five-year period beginning on 1 June 2019, the President of El Salvador, Here’s how to look, will face the real polls today popular poll on the Salvadorans’ rejection or acceptance of his controversial management and the future of his government, marked as authoritarian, irregular, nepotistic and intolerant.
About 5.3 million of the 6.8 million inhabitants of Savior They will go today to vote from 07:00 to 17:00 (central Mexico) to elect the 84 deputies to the Legislative Assembly (unicameral Congress), the mayors, administrators and councilors of the 262 municipal councils and 20 deputies to Central American Parliament (Parlacen).
The consultation will be crucial for the president, as he could appear strengthened or weakened to govern for the next 40 months in one of America’s most violent and insecure countries, although he will maintain the support of two vital pieces – the Armed Forces and the Police. national civil society – on which it has established its political platform.
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“What is at stake is the balance of the power of democracy,” warned Salvadoran businessman Javier Simán, president of the National Association of Private Enterprises (ANEP).
“The Bukele government, since taking office almost two years ago, has waged a political campaign, discrediting MPs, political parties and all those who think differently, to generate animosity against other parties and to seek a majority in the Assembly.” , said Simán. universal.
“We would like to see a balanced Assembly, in which no party has total control, much less the Executive controls it. This is the balance of power. The executive wants to have all the power of the state apparatus “, he stated.
Today’s election is vital for Bukele, already spiced up in his daily tactics of going to Red social Twitter and to other social networks to reject and deny all questions raised by their opponents.
Opponents described Bukele, 39, as a danger to the young and fragile Salvadoran democracy, which only emerged in 1992 from a civil war between right-wing armed forces and left-wing guerrillas that erupted in Bukele. 1980 and cost between 75 and 80 thousand victims and a deep internal social revolt was resolved.
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In a hectic trip, the president has accumulated accusations from his rivals that he is authoritarian, masters his family and associations, runs the country aimlessly and never supports criticism.
On February 9, 2020, in one of the most significant events of the post-war period and sponsored by military and police troops, Bukele marched to the Assembly and occupied it by force to demand the approval of a security plan, in a threat. to address the constitutional order. Bukele repulsed any attack for that act.
Political map
Bukele must have joined the Great Right-wing Alliance for National Unity (WIN) to run and win the 2019 presidential election, but assumed without his own legislative bench. GANA won 10 seats, but the Assembly came under traditional domination. Right-wing Nationalist Republican Opposition and Alliance (ARENA) also celebrated the 35th anniversary of the opposition, the left and the former guerrilla Farabundo Martí Front for National Liberation (FMLN) reached 23, while the rest were distributed in minority parties.
In this context, today’s battle seems marked by three groups: ARENA, FMLN and Nuevas Ideas, Bukele’s right-wing party with which he will try today to build a parliamentary stronghold to govern at will. ARENA ruled from 1989 to 2009 and FMLN from 2009 to 2019, in a bipartisan system finally defeated by Bukele two years ago.
The President is challenged to obtain, always together with his GANA partners, 43 legislators for an absolute majority and 56 for a qualified majority. Deputies will be elected for three years from May 1 and can be re-elected indefinitely.
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“It’s time to dump her and move on the new Legislative Assembly with deputies who really work for Salvadorans “, they proclaimed New Ideas on their social networks.
“The time has come to put an end to corruption” and “write the second part of El Salvador’s political history,” the ruling party said.
When he warned his followers that “mass voting kills fraud,” he urged them to “all of us” on the N ballot papers for Nueva Imagen and “Nayib” today, because “the same time has always come. and I’m already going out. “
Attacks
The opposition has never spared actions to combat the head of state as the center of the electoral battle. “Bukele has greatly affected the dignity of the office,” the Salvadoran deputy said Rodolfo Párker, general secretary of the opposition Christian Democratic Party and candidate for re-election in the Assembly.
The president “had the first responsibility to seek harmony among the Salvadoran people, he generated a lot of hatred and divided us. In this context, today’s challenge is to defend the separation of powers, the rule of law and responsibility, which Bukele does not respect “, Párker told this newspaper.
“Today, the future of El Salvador will be marked,” the Salvadoran woman said. Claudia de Avila, candidate for the position of deputy for ARENA. “Even during the war I had not had as much danger of institutional weakening as that caused by Bukele,” he said, consulted by the newspaper.
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“It does not respect the Assembly, the Supreme Court of Justice or the Constitutional Chamber. It has allocated 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 be manipulated “, he accused.
Bukele “pursues absolute power: they want to turn El Salvador into a dictatorship,” he said.
Forecasts indicate that the first official results will be published tonight, and Bukele will know the balance of the acid test.