El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele has emerged as the big winner in his country’s elections held last Sunday.
While vote counting continues, President Bukele’s party and its allies look set to take control of the national legislature at a moment when critics fear the country is sliding toward authoritarian rule.
About 40,000 police, soldiers and international observers were deployed to oversee the balloting, and election day was described by international monitors as “peaceful”.
Bukele, 39, has had a meteoric rise and hardened his grip on many of the country’s institutions, most notably the armed forces, worrying human rights advocates at home and abroad.
The Catholic Church’s Episcopal Conference of El Salvador denounced pre-election violence, which saw two left wing activists shot dead while campaigning in late January, days after Bukele criticized the 1992 peace accords made between left and right wing warring parties.
The election could be a watershed for a country with a history of military rule that has been trying to build a democracy since the U.S.-backed war against leftist guerrillas in the 1980s.
Bukele is the first Salvadoran president chosen from outside the two main parties — the right-wing ARENA and left-wing FMLN — that have dominated politics since the end of the 12-year civil war in 1992.
Corruption scandals, coupled with resentment about the lack of economic and security improvements, led in recent years to widespread voter frustration.
But human rights groups have warned about his authoritarian tendencies. Bukele has labelled critics traitors and attacked independent media.
