ASK in El Salvador about elections across the nation this coming Sunday (February 28) and you’ll get two different answers of what the results could bring: a move toward a dictatorship or a chance to move the country forward.
Polls show Nuevas Ideas (New Ideas), the party of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, pulling ahead of the country’s two main political parties and set to gain control of municipalities and at least a simple majority in the Salvadoran Legislative Assembly, the equivalent of a national parliament.
If that happens, it will place much of the country under the control of the New Ideas party – a feat for any political party in the past 30 years here, but more so for one that was not even formally established three years ago.
Some Catholic leaders in recent days have joined other Christian notables in pointing out that the path to get to this point has produced greater polarization in Salvadoran society, as well as the erosion of public trust in institutions that have maintained political peace in the country for almost three decades.
The leaders warn about the harm already harvested: the death of two Salvadorans who were part of a caravan of leftist sympathizers fired upon at an intersection in late January.
Authorities are investigating the crime and have suspects under custody — all security personnel or affiliated with the government run by Nuevas Ideas.
