For Nuestro Tiempo, the candidate for mayor of San Salvador will be Héctor Raúl Silva Hernández, grandson of another Hector Silva who was the mayor of San Salvador from 1997-2003. It is not clear that the party will fare any better in legislative and municipal races. SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador - In the two years since President Nayib Bukele won a stunning victory over El Salvador’s established political parties, the … Nuevas Ideas, the party of president Nayib Bukele, is fielding candidates for mayor and legislative deputy throughout the country. El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele, accused of authoritarianism by detractors, stands to win an absolute majority in parliament in elections Sunday for which his party is polling strongly. In a recent interview with Peoples Dispatch, Víctor Suazo, candidate of the FMLN for the Legislative Assembly for San Salvador, told us about the FMLN’s program to promote new legislations to protect democracy, fight authoritarianism, defend public institutions and promote social changes. The court must rule on the constiutional grounds asserted by president Nayib Bukele when he vetoed a law passed to authorize such voting, and subsequently had his veto overridden. GANA and Cambio Democratico -- are the two current parties in the Legislative Assembly which support president Bukele. The overwhelming victory achieved by El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele in last Sunday’s elections means that he will control an absolute majority in the Legislative Assembly and the majority of the country’s mayors’ offices. Recently, he was condemned for fostering a climate of hatred against opposition political parties. Four Central American countries have elections of some sort or another in 2021. The party willing to negotiate (or sell ) its votes to the majority party will have a power disproportionate to its size. (In evaluating any public opinion polls taken at this point in time, it is important to recognize the challenges of getting responses from a representative sample of voters during a time of pandemic, and with more than six months left before the election. LIMA, Peru — Vicenta Escobar, 62, sells fruit from a stand on the streets in Peru’s capital, Lima. The 2021 Legislative Elections in El Salvador: Potential Political Realignment The last legislative and local elections in El Salvador took place in 2018. Around the World in 8 Minutes: Protests erupt demanding justice for Daunte Wright in the US, Fresh ‘Troubles’ in Northern Ireland spoil peace on 23rd anniversary of Good Friday Agreement, With his sentences annulled, Lula says he may run in order to defeat Bolsonaro, Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), Legislative elections in El Salvador consolidate power of authoritarian president Nayib Bukele, Tunisia’s largest party calls for joint dialogue to resolve growing political crisis, El Salvador’s FMLN fought for democracy, now they defend it from authoritarian rule. Legislative elections were held in El Salvador on 28 February 2021 to elect the 84 members of the Legislative Assembly, 20 members of the Central American Parliament and 262 mayors. During Bukele’s nearly 2 years in office, the economic, political and social crises have also deepened in the Central American country. Preliminary legislative results show the president’s party, Nuevas Ideas (New Ideas), winning the majority of seats in the Legislative Assembly. The question many ask in El Salvador today is not whether Nuevas Ideas will have the most seats in the Legislative Assembly following the election, but whether that party, along with its allies in GANA and CD will garner a super-majority (56 of 84) seats in the Assembly allowing Bukele to select the attorney general, put magistrates on the Supreme Court, borrow internationally, and suspend constitutional guarantees. A man casts his ballot at a polling station during the municipal and parliamentary elections in San Salvador, El Salvador, Feb. 28, 2021. By: The Associated Press. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele poses for a selfie with a supporter after voting during parliamentary and local elections in San Salvador, Salvador, on Feb. 28. His political party, Nuevas Ideas had not yet been created. Also looming over these elections is the ongoing shadow of the coronavirus pandemic. FOR A NEW EL SALVADOR FULL OF PROSPERITIES. The upcoming elections are crucial for the strengthening of democracy, which has suffered various setbacks under the rule of far-right President Nayib Bukele. The 2021 elections on February 28 will see three new parties on the ballot. If international travel has not resumed, independent election observers who have been a regular part of El Salvador's recent elections may not be present as one of the guarantors of transparency. Muyshondt has often taken the side of Nayib Bukele on matters involving public security and containment of the coronavirus. The current mayor of San Salvador is Ernesto "Neto" Muyshondt of ARENA. If the virus is still widespread in the country, concern over contagion might depress turnout. AQ takes a closer look at the contenders in what could be a historic election. He describes possible scenarios where an opposition party may hold a few seats which are the key to votes needing a super-majority. So we have to be very alert to this in the new legislature of this situation.”. So let’s take a look at each country and their upcoming elections. Nuevas Ideas, the party of president Nayib Bukele, is fielding candidates for mayor and legislative deputy throughout the country. PCN and PDC -- are smaller right wing parties which ally with ARENA and together give the right the majority in the current legislature. However, the big story for four countries in Central America is likely to … On February 9, 2020, Bukele occupied the country’s parliament alongside armed police and military to pressurize the opposition legislators to approve his request for a 109 million USD loan from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration to further arm the security forces. Nuevas Ideas is nominating for mayor Mario Durán, the current Minister of Governance within the government of Nayib Bukele. El Pais: Profile: Nayib Bukele and absolute power “The showman president of El Salvador is causing a furor in the central American country. That may be sufficient for his party's victory. (CNS photo/Reuters/Jose Cabezas) On February 28, 2021, Salvadorans will go to the polls to elect all members of the country's legislature, all mayors, and delegates to the Central American parliament. Suazo stressed that “El Salvador has a grave crisis with public finances, since the government has been violating a law of fiscal responsibility and we have had a high level of public debt, zero transparency and this has meant that institutions like the International Monetary Fund are talking and there are some agreements, that the government will seek to implement, after the elections on February 28, agreements that implicate a fiscal adjustment of 3 percentage points of the GDP and it is expected that there will be mass layoffs, cuts to social spending and an increase in indirect taxes such as the value-added tax that affects the poorest in the population. If Bukele and his allies do not get the "mayoria calificada" -- the super-majority, the question is who will hold the golden vote? The crash of ARENA below its traditional level of 25-30% support in the past, when its chief opponent was the FMLN, is probably the most surprising result here. A sweeping victory could remove all of those counter-weights on a Nuevas Ideas government. This Sunday, on February 28, over 5.4 million Salvadorans will go to the polls to elect 84 legislators of the National Assembly, 262 mayors as well as 20 members of the Central American Parliament for the period 2021-2024. As final results arrive from the February 28 elections, the contours of the next Legislative Assembly are coming into sharp relief: a party that embraces misogyny will govern El Salvador. The party is expected to have a very strong showing in its very first election outing. El Salvador election could remake political landscape By MARCOS ALEMAN, Associated Press 2/25/2021 Miami Beach bistros bow to spring break curfew after weekend mayhem In a series of protests, citizens denounced the lack of food and economic aid to poor and unemployed informal workers as well as the use of the army to enforce quarantine, the precarious condition of the quarantine centers, the arrests of people who allegedly broke lockdown, the shortage of personal protection equipment for doctors and other healthcare workers, the delay in the return of thousands of Salvadorans stranded abroad, among other issues. A sizable majority of Salvadorans approve of the performance of Bukele's government. Anger with the parties that ruled El Salvador for nearly three decades swept Bukele into office in 2019, and frustration remains. The 2021 legislative, municipal and Central American parliamentary elections took place in El Salvador on February 28. I hope for new politicians that will follow the advance of the way the new government in place is doing , that has done more in one year than the previous in 30. god bless EL SALVADOR. President Nayib Bukele holds his ballots as he prepares to vote in local and legislative elections, at a polling station in San Salvador, El Salvador, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2021. People wait in line to cast their ballots at a polling station during the municipal and parliamentary elections in San Salvador, El Salvador, Feb. 28, 2021. Back in 2018,  the country's popular president Nayib Bukele was not on any ballots, having just been expelled from the leftist FMLN and unable to run for reelection as mayor for San Salvador. He alleged that the amount was necessary to deal with the rampant gang violence and the deterioration of law and order situation in the country. These are elections which take place every three years, so the last round took place in 2018. The party is probably best described as center-right in orientation. The 2021 elections on February 28 will see three new parties on the ballot. 10:31 AM . The third new party is Vamos. In Bukele's first 14 months in office, the Legislative Assembly and Supreme Judicial Court have often slowed or thwarted some of his initiatives. ... As a candidate, ... El Salvador will hold legislative elections. Another new party is Nuestro Tiempo. The government of El Salvador is a presidential representative democratic republic. It will have been the last national election where the primary competitors are the FMLN on the left and ARENA on the right. The political landscape in 2018 was much different than today. If you wish to subscribe to the El Salvador Perspectives e-mail list and receive e-mail updates each time new material is added to this blog, enter your e-mail address below: I'm very exited for the new era of political candidates for the next legislators election in my country of origin EL SALVADOR!. To know more about Nayib Bukele’s authoritarian measures, the threats they pose to democracy in El Salvador and the proposal from the left-wing Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) party, watch our interview with Víctor Suazo, candidate of the FMLN for the Legislative Assembly for San Salvador here. LET'S DO IT NUEVAS IDEAS ! writes Sergio Arauz of El Faro. Some of the higher profile names in this party of youthful politicians include Johnny Wright Sol, Aida Betancourt, Bertha María Deleón, and Hector Silva. The FMLN lost significant support in that 2018 election. Muyshondt was charged earlier this year with participating in negotiating with gangs to buy votes for ARENA in the 2014 presidential election. El Salvador holds a legislative election on February 28, Belize holds local elections on March 3, and Honduras and Nicaragua both have presidential elections in November. This weekend some five million Salvadorans will head to the polls to elect a new president. President Nayib Bukele holds his ballots as he prepares to vote in local and legislative elections, at a polling station in San Salvador, El Salvador, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2021. El Salvador Election Could Remake Political Landscape. (Nuevas Ideas was not formed in time to participate in the 2019 presidential election; Bukele came into power as the nominee of the GANA party). On January 31, two members of the opposition left-wing Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) party killed and five others were injured in an armed attack against the FMLN election caravan in the capital San Salvador. Feb. 25, 2021 at 1:00 p.m. UTC. Progressive activists allege that over the last year, Bukele took advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to intensify his authoritarian policies, which led to an increase in human rights violations and the breakdown of the rule of law in the country. The party is expected to have a very strong showing in its very first election outing. The results showed: No other party registered significant support. El Salvador has no voting by mail or electronically except for those living abroad, and otherwise all voting is in person. The FMLN is nominating Rogelio Canales Chávez. On the municipal government level, the race for mayor of San Salvador could be very interesting. 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