Voting centers close and the number of votes for municipal and legislative elections begins

The 1,595 polling stations began closing at 5 p.m. to allow for the counting of votes for municipal and legislative elections. Shortly beforewards, the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) informed the departmental electoral councils (JED) and the municipal electoral councils (JEM) that, 10 minutes before the close of the voting process, they should proceed with the entry of people queuing outside the these.

In addition, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) performed the zeroing of the results processing system preliminary elections. This provides certainty that the system will record the results, based on information from the three records generated in each of the 8,451 JRVs.

Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) Judge Noel Orellana said tonight that in any case, the system of preliminary counting of votes fails, the electoral body is ready.

Number of polling stations in San Benito

“We do not have one, but two contingency plans to implement if the technology on the table fails, we are optimistic that it would not happen, but if this happens, we have all the necessary measures, even as in as a last resort we can manually complete the same formats of the minutes, completed manually with the opinion of the Prosecutor’s Office, the Prosecutor’s Office for Human Rights and Observers, which will certify the transparency that these exceptional problems that may arise in counting votes will be resolved, “said Orellana .

The beginning of the day was marked by some delays. More than 38 polling stations opened more than 40 minutes late on Sunday, according to Attorney General Raúl Melara.

JRV counts at the polling station on Hipódromo Boulevard, San Benito, San Salvador

There were some accidents during the day, such as the one involving Osiris Luna, director general of the Penitentiary Centers and deputy minister of justice, who was accused of forcibly entering the polling station along with other members of Nuevas Ideas and intervened in the installation of the Council receiving votes without being accredited for it.

You may read: The Director of Penitentiary Centers forcibly enters the voting center

At 17:00, the closing of the voting center located in the Masferrer Educational Center in Usulután. Photo EDH / Jorge Reyes

The event took place in Guaymango, Ahuachapán. In a video broadcast on social networks, a man, who seems to be an official, is seen forcibly opening the school gate. The moon also arrived at the Francisco Gavidia School Center in El Refugio, Ahuachapán, to arrange for the representatives of the New Ideas party to join JRV without having the respective accreditation. This was questioned by the president of the Municipal Electoral Council (JEM), Aura Lissethe Herrera.

On election day, there were no major altercations at polling stations. The election event was watched by about 40,000 security personnel, including police and military, as well as international observers.

As part of the international observers was Otto Madrid, from the Independent Center for Exchange and Solidarity (CIS), who said that the vote at the Albert Camus National Institute in the Central American Colony of the capital was opened 30 minutes late, but saw nothing to suggest fraud, which the Executive, without any evidence, insisted on from the beginning of the election campaign.

“It was a peaceful vote. It strikes me that so many older adults have arrived, even in wheelchairs “, commented Madrid.

You might read: Delays and crowds at polling stations, the most relevant election day in El Salvador

The mission of the OAS observer made a “strong call” not to spread false information on social networks and social networks.

Jesuit University José Simeón Cañas (UCA) warned in an editorial that the elections are taking place “in an atmosphere of tension and confrontation that could lead to violence and call into question the results.”

In addition: The United States asks not to claim that there is fraud where it does not exist

Bukele ignored the ban on broadcasting political messages three days before the vote and aired television commercials calling for his allies to vote and criticizing his opponents. In addition to the press conference held in the afternoon, where he attacked the TSE and discredited the work of the institution and he also directed the vote to his party.

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