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Gang-weary Salvadorans vote for president
SAN SALVADOR, Feb 4, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Salvadorans headed to the polls
Sunday to elect a new president in the Central American country beset by gang
violence and widespread poverty, with results from the first round of voting
expected quickly.
Nayib Bukele, the 37-year-old former mayor of San Salvador, is the
frontrunner in a race that could upend the nearly 30-year grip of the
country’s two largest parties on Salvadoran politics.
Voters formed long lines outside polling stations in parts of the capital,
where gang-violence and insecurity was high on voters’ minds. El Salvador is
among the world’s most violent countries with a murder rate of 51 per 100,000
citizens.
“It’s honestly scary to go out alone in the street, you never know what can
happen you,” first-time voter Gabriela Solorzano said at a polling station in
the gang stronghold of Mejicanos in the north of the capital, her brother
holding her hand.
“So I think whoever wins this election should care about us young people,
give us more security as there is so much violence,” said Solorzano, 19.
Ligia Mejia, 21, a pharmacy chain employee wearing her work uniform, was
concerned about high unemployment fuelling migration.
“Hopefully, the new president will be aware that more jobs are needed,
because it is very difficult to get a job for the first time,” said Mejia.
In nearby streets, where graffiti on the walls testify to the presence of
criminal gangs, many people arrived to vote aboard buses laid on by the
political parties.
Outgoing President Salvador Sanchez Ceren said voting proceeded “very
calmly and very normally.”
Some 23,000 police officers and 15,000 soldiers were deployed to protect
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 is expected to 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.
A second round between the two leading candidates will be held on March 10
if no single candidate secures an absolute majority of votes on Sunday.
The Central American country has been battered by gang violence, which
authorities say was the source of most of the 3,340 murders reported last
year.
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 United States, fleeing gangs and a lack of
jobs.
“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.”
Polls closed as scheduled at 5:00 pm local time (2300 GMT), with the three
top candidates expressing their satisfaction at the voting conditions.
Some 5.2 million people participated, and results should be known by Sunday
evening, according to the elections authority chief Julio Olivo.
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/GMR/0806 hrs