Official results confirm huge win for allies of El Salvador’s Bukele

Congressional allies of El Salvador’s popular president will have free rein to legislate, even initiate changes to the Central American country’s constitution, based on final results of recent legislative elections announced on Friday.

The final tally showed that the party of President Nayib Bukele along with an allied party won 61 of 84 seats in the country’s unicameral Congress in the late February vote.

The president’s New Ideas party along with the Grand Alliance for National Unity party will now be able to govern with no need to negotiate with the small political opposition that remains.

Bukele, 39, one of the world’s youngest leaders, won a landslide victory as president in 2019 on a pledge to root out corruption, but has faced criticism from rights groups and foreign powers for what they see as autocratic leanings.

Allies of Bukele, a former mayor of the capital San Salvador, also claimed 179 of 262 mayors’ races that were up for grabs, the final tally showed. – Rappler.com