Watch through this space the most relevant moments of the election day in which Salvadorans elect the Legislative Assembly, the Parliament and the Municipal Councils.
In a different scenario in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, El Salvador is celebrating the municipal and legislative elections for the period 2021-2024 on February 28.
More than 5.3 million citizens are registered on the electoral list. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) allowed 1,595 polling stations in the country and 8,451 voting committees (JRVs) for the event.
READ ALSO: Seniors, the first to vote on February 28
In this space you can watch the most relevant incidents of election day that started with some delays in some polling stations.
14:40. President Nayib Bukele is holding a press conference at a hotel in the capital before his vote, where he is asking the people to come out and vote. “There is still time,” the president said.
14:05 Adán Perdomo, who wants re-election for the municipality of Ilopango, expresses his vote.
Members of a JRV deliver ballots to Mayor Adán Perdomo.
13:50 At the Cristóbal Colón de Nahuilingo School Center in Sonsonate, the data transmission equipment is ready to be delivered to JRVs at 17:00 when voting day closes. Teams are charged to work for three hours in the event of a break, explained Gladys de Castro, a member of the broadcast team.
The voter environment at the Cristóbal Colón de Nahuilingo School Center, in Sonsonate. Photo / Magdalena Reyes
13:40 Prosecutor Raúl Melara said on Twitter about the attention in the polling stations.
13:15 Agustina Pérez, aged 89, participated in the voting center dressed in the typical costume of the indigenous community that still refuses to disappear in the municipality of Nahuizalco, in Sonsonate. “I came to vote because it is my duty and a principle, I vote for my blood and because it is important,” said the octogenarian who arrived accompanied by the youngest of his seven children.
13:05 The mayor of Santa Ana and candidate for re-election by ARENA, Milena de Escalón, cast her vote at the INSA polling station.
The candidate for re-election for the mayor of Santa Ana, Milena de Escalón, expresses her vote. Photo: Jonathan Funes
1:00 pm. Mario Durán, candidate for mayor of San Salvador for new ideas, cast his vote at the Manuel José Arce National Institute in the Modelo neighborhood of San Salvador.
The candidate for mayor of San Salvador, Mario Durán, after expressing his vote. Photo: Lissette Monterrosa
12:30 Some young people in San Miguel have stated that they prefer face-to-face voting, because in this way they agree to choose the people they identify with.
Some of the young people who voted in San Miguel. Photo / Iliana Ávila
12:05 pm In Guaymango, Ahuachapán, before the polls were set up, some acts of violence took place in the early hours of the morning. One of them was played by Osiris Luna, the director general of the penal centers and the deputy minister of justice, who was accused of forcibly entering the polling station together with other members of Nuevas Ideas and of intervening in the JRV installation without being accredited. to this, according to a video posted by 106.9 FM Radio on his Twitter account.
Party militants are forcing their way into the polling station. Video taken from: @arpassv
12:00 p.m. Despite the ban on taking children to polling stations in front of COVID-19, it was noticed that some citizens went to the polls in the company of minors.
11:50 am Supporters of the new ideas and the candidate for mayor of Santa Ana, Gustavo Acevedo, offered the shirts with the candidate’s logo for the commune to the people who attend the voting center at the Rafael Álvarez Lalinde school.
Supporters of the new ideas distribute shirts alluding to the mayoral candidate near a polling station. Photo / Jonathan Funes
11:45 am. Members of a voting commission (JRV) at Zacamil Kindergarten in Mejicanos have reported that there is not enough equipment for them. In most JRVs there is only one table.
In the voting center installed in the Zacamil School of Growth, in Mejicanos, it was reported that not all JRVs received their work supplies. Photo: Menly Cortez
11:35 am Miguel Pereira, who wants to be re-elected mayor of San Miguel by the FMLN, cast his vote at the Fe y Alegría center.
Photo: Jorge Reyes.
11:30 The head of US embassy business, Brendan O’Brien, visited the polling station at the Concha Viuda de Escalón school, where he reiterated that his government supports fair, transparent and peaceful elections. He said: “Elections in which all votes count are vital. What we want to see is patience in this process. Sometimes the results take time. ”
EDH Photo / Marvin Romero
11:20 am Attorney General Raúl Melara reported the arrest of a suspect in electoral fraud in the La Unión department. As indicated, it was a person who voted in a polling place where it was not his turn to vote.
Attorney General Raúl Melara on his arrival at the polling station on Hipódromo Boulevard. Capture video
11:05 am The Mayor of San Salvador and requesting the re-election by ARENA, Ernesto Muyshondt, on his arrival at the polling station for the widow Concha of Escalón to vote. Muyshondt said he hoped the government would not use the police and armed forces for electoral purposes.
Ernesto Muyshondt, who is seeking re-election in the capital. Photography / Kindness
11:00 in the morning Salvadoran Joaquín López complained that after 15 minutes the ink on his fingers did not mark. He reported poor product quality.
The citizen complained that, despite the fact that they applied indelible ink, this did not affect his fingers. Photo: Óscar Iraheta
10:50 in the morning International observers report irregularities at the Oriental Republic of Uruguay School in the Zacamil neighborhood of Mejicanos. Delegates Adamaris Silva and Nancy Flores from Mexico indicated that police and polling station staff did not prioritize the entry of older adults into the polls and that they had received complaints about a political party distributing propaganda.
International observers Adamaris Silva and Nancy Flores of Mexico are checking the electoral process outside the Centro Escolar República Oriental de Uruguay in Mejicanos. Photo: Menly Cortez
10:50 in the morning Deputy Margarita Escobar, who is requesting re-election by ARENA, voted at the Concha Viuda de Escalón School Center, but at the time of the vote they tore the corner of one of the ballots, for which she had to cancel and gave her another ballot.
Margarita Escobar, candidate for the position of deputy for ARENA, expresses her vote on February 28, 2021. Photo EDH / Kindness
10:40 am At the Romero Albergue School Center there are lines outside and inside the polling station. There were disagreements in some of the voting councils (JRVs) to open the ballot boxes.
This is what the facilities of the voting center of the Arturo Albergue School Center in San Salvador looked like on the morning of February 28th. Photo: Óscar Iraheta
10:30 in the morning In the National Institute of Commerce (Inco), in Salvador there were delays to start election day, and the physical distance was not respected.
Crowds in the corridors of the National Institute of Commerce (Inco) there was an hour late in opening the polling station. Distance was not observed. Photo EDH / Óscar Iraheta
10:20 am Former presidential candidate Carlos Calleja arrived at the polling station on Hipódromo Boulevard: “Voting is the best tool for democracy.”
Carlos Calleja casts the ballots in that box. Photographs by Jessica Orellan
10:15 am. Guaymango voters tear down the school gate for late opening.
10:10 ARENA MP Norman Quijano cast his vote at the Sagrado Corazón School voting center.
Photo courtesy
10:00 am Candidate for mayor of San Miguel for new ideas Will Salgado and his brother who aspires to be re-elected to a GANA Numan deputy in the municipal and legislative elections.
The Salgado brothers voted at a polling station in San Miguel. Photo / Jorge Reyes
9:55 am This was the atmosphere in the polling station on Hipódromo Boulevard in San Salvador, where voters waited two hours for it to be activated.
Polling stations on Hipódromo Boulevard opened with a long delay at about 9 in the morning.
9:45 The voting center on Hipódromo Boulevard in San Salvador was opened to the public two hours late.
9:30 Ernesto Sanabria, the press secretary of the presidency in El Salvador, was reprimanded by the national civil police for violating the Electoral Code and trying to take a photo of the ballot.
Capture video
9:00 in the morning Voters gathered at the Monseñor Romero Vocational Training Center in Ciudad Arce, La Libertad.
8:45 There are no tampons in the Juana López polling station in Ciudad Delgado, so despite the COVID-19 pandemic, citizens had to access the old method of dipping their finger in indelible ink.
A voter dips his finger in the indelible ink due to the lack of tampons in the voting center of the Juan López School. Photo / Menly Cortez
8:30 in the morning. At least 20 people who received JRV training at the Thomas Jefferson Voting Center in Sonsonate have not received official accreditation to settle.
7:30 in the morning International observers are at various polling stations.
7:20 am Some citizens were still waiting for the polling stations to open.
7:15 am Older adults were the first to vote on February 28.
07:00 Most polling stations open their doors to eligible citizens to cast their votes, some have done so with delays.
The Alejandro de Humboldt School in Ahuachapán opened 20 hours late. Because they do not allow all people to enter, it generated a disturbance at the entrance. This is mainly caused by those who do not want to respect social distance. Photo EDH / Cristian Díaz