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Change expected in El Salvador presidential poll
SAN SALVADOR, Feb 3, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Nayib Bukele is favorite to win when
voters head to the polls in El Salvador on Sunday to elect a new president
they hope will lead them away from gang violence and widespread poverty.
The 37-year-old former mayor of the capital San Salvador is hoping to usher
in a new era after almost 30 years of the country’s two largest parties
dominating the political landscape.
Rigorous security will be in place as polling stations open from 7am (1300
GMT) and an expected 2.2 million people head to more than 1,500 election
centers.
Some 23,000 police officers and 15,000 soldiers will be on duty for the
sixth presidential election since democracy was restored in the country in
1992 after 12 years of bloody civil war between state security forces and
leftist guerrillas.
Should Bukele, who represents the conservative Grand Alliance for National
Unity (GANA) party, win it would put to an end three decades of domination by
the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) and leftist Farabundo
Marti Front for National Liberation (FMLN).
His main challenge should come from 42-year-old supermarket magnate Carlos
Calleja, representing ARENA.
If he does win, though, he will have to form an alliance with the right,
which dominates congress.
He has promised to increase investment in education and fight corruption
but his main task will be to implement new programs to confront insecurity.
El Salvador is one of the most violent countries in the world with a murder
rate of 51 per 100,000 citizens.
It is beset by gang violence and registered 3,340 murders last year.
Authorities say most of those were gang related.
Gangs are said to have 70,000 members, 17,000 of whom are behind bars.
– ‘Daring security solutions’ –
“The new president must offer daring security solutions,” Carlos Carcach,
an analyst and professor at the Higher School of Economy and Business in El
Salvador, told AFP.
Another challenge will be to reduce illegal immigration to the United
States given President Donald Trump has threatened to cut off aid if the
stream of Central American migrants heading there is not stopped.
During the last few months of 2018, more than 3,000 Salvadorans joined
caravans marching towards the US, fleeing gangs and a lack of employment.
“You think and rethink about whether or not it’s worth staying in this
country or have the courage to go and try your luck in another,” Sergio
Hernandez, a 41-year-old carpenter told AFP.
“It’s terrible with the gangs, someone has to do something because it’s
unbearable.”
The other main worry for Salvadorans is the economy. Although it grew by
2.6 percent in 2018, its biggest rise in five years, that is considered
insufficient to cover the demand for new employment.
The election winner will have to juggle the need to raise taxes to cover an
external debt of more than $9.5 billion while trying to maintain social
programs in a country where the minimum wage of $300 a month is barely enough
to buy food.
“The challenge for the new leader is to satisfy the demand for fairer
salaries and avoid the social exclusion that forces many to flee the
country,” said Raul Moreno, an economics professor at the state university.
Just over 30 percent of El Salvador’s 6.6 million inhabitants live below
the poverty line.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1313 hrs