Salvadorans go to the polls after an atypical electoral campaign dominated by Bukele on social networks

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SAN SALVADOR (AP) — The elections in El Salvador are taking place, for the first time in its history, within the framework of a state of exception and with a shift of the presidential electoral struggle to social networks, where Nayib Bukele has been the protagonist with his aspiration for re-election.

Despite questions about his candidacy for contravening the constitutional prohibition that prevents immediate re-election, Bukele enjoys a high percentage of popularity among Salvadorans compared to the other five candidates for power.

With more than 80% of the voting intention, according to three recent surveys from two universities and the Fundaungo organization, the president vastly leads his opponents, who have achieved percentages of less than 5%.

In front of him is Manuel “El Chino” Flores, from the former guerrilla Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), who appears with 4.2%; Joel Sánchez, from the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (Arena), 3.4%, Luis Parada, from Nuestro Tiempo 2.5%, Javier Renderos, from Fuerza Solidara 1.1%; and Marina Murillo of the Salvadoran Patriotic Fraternity 1%.

“I think that at this point this is already defined. It is very difficult for anyone to compete with him,” said political scientist Álvaro Artiga, professor of Political Science at the José Simeón Cañas Central American University (UCA), run by Jesuits.

Artiga affirms that “there is a kind of cult of the ruler everywhere” and an example is the sales of crafts and marketing, where representations with Bukele’s face predominate.

Researcher Joao Picardo, from the Francisco Gavidia University (UFG), also highlights the political weight that the president has and affirms that “there is a lack of communication between the people and the political parties as a political structure.” He says that Salvadorans have “linked more with the figure of the president.”

Its popularity is underpinned by the change in the security environment that, according to citizen opinion surveys, the Central American country is experiencing. In the past, El Salvador was designated as one of the most violent in the world. Now, more than 80% of the population believes that the situation has improved.

For almost two years, the country has been living under an emergency regime that is renewed month by month at the request of Bukele in Congress and that involves the suspension of fundamental citizen rights such as the right to a lawyer or the right to be informed of the reasons for the arrest.

Under this context, more than 76,000 people have been imprisoned — 90% are without a judicial sentence — and although this strategy has been widely questioned by human rights organizations, it constitutes the foundations of the heavy-handed policy that Bukele proposed to fight against crime and gangs in his last years in office.

In one of his campaign appearances on social networks, the president asked Salvadorans to go out and vote to protect security achievements and warned that if Nuevas Ideas, his party, loses the majority in Congress, “we would put the war at risk.” against the gangs.”

The UFG polls led by Picardo also predict that the ruling party will win at least 57 of the 60 deputies in Congress, which would once again give all power to the president.

These surveys, explains Picardo, show that there is a rejection of the parties that governed the country for the last 30 years and that did not resolve the corruption accusations. The government’s communication and propaganda apparatus, the analyst emphasizes, has constantly pointed this out. “So when you name Arena and the FMLN, what it evokes is corruption.”

In this, political scientist Serrano agrees, pointing out that all the advertising spots of the ruling party Nuevas Ideas “appeal to emotions, to not return to the past, to the fear that there will be a setback in the country.”

In addition, the opposition candidates have seen the economic support they received from their traditional financiers diminish since, according to analysts, the business groups that for decades have had influence in the state apparatus, are now close to President Bukele because they have found the opportunity of doing business.

Consequently, a good part of the campaign has focused on digital media. In some cases, because the parties do not have resources for traditional promotion and in others, as a media strategy.

In the case of Bukele, he has limited himself to publishing messages on social networks, where millions follow him. He has not appeared in any public event, nor in interviews on television or newspapers.

“Most people find out about social networks. “Believe more in a YouTuber or an influencer than in a journalist,” said Omar Serrano, vice-rector of Social Projection at the UCA, when presenting a recent electoral opinion study by the UCA.

“We are facing an electoral campaign and absolutely unequal elections,” Serrano stressed. “Probably the most asymmetric elections we have had since the peace agreements. It is a matter of one, practically, there is an abysmal difference.”