Amid complaints of irregularities, the Salvadoran opposition demanded the annulment of the legislative elections

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Opposition Parties in El Salvador Request Annulment of Legislative Elections

Members of the opposition parties Nationalist Republican Alliance (Arena), Nuestro Tiempo (NT), and Vamos have presented a request to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) of El Salvador to annul the legislative elections that took place on February 4. The parties have cited serious violations of the Constitution, political rights of citizens, and candidates of all political parties in contention.

Claudia Ortiz, a deputy and candidate for a second term in Congress, stated that the election should be repeated due to the violations of the popular will. She emphasized that the principle of not falsifying the popular will has also been seriously violated.

In their request for annulment, the opposition parties presented a document outlining 69 anomalies from the entire electoral process, each supported with evidence. According to the Electoral Code, requests for annulment can be made within 24 hours after the election has been carried out. The Supreme Electoral Court of El Salvador must now analyze the request and carry out the respective procedures within a period of three days, in accordance with the electoral law.

The final scrutiny of the legislative elections was completed over the weekend, with the ruling party, Nuevas Ideas (NI), expected to have won more than 50 deputies out of a total of 60 in Congress. President Nayib Bukele’s victory in the presidential election was also ratified by the Electoral Court with over 84% of the votes.

The opposition parties have raised concerns about the delay and lack of uniformity in the counting of the elections and have pointed out a lack of control by the Electoral Court over their development. However, Judge Noel Orellana of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal emphasized the transparency with which the elections and their final scrutiny processes were held.

As the electoral process continues to unfold, the annulment request and subsequent proceedings will be closely monitored by political observers in El Salvador and the international community.