The Organization of American States (OAS) Election Observation Mission declared El Salvador’s recent presidential and legislative elections as the most peaceful in the country’s recent history. The preliminary report from the Mission highlighted the significant lead of candidate Nayib Bukele and his party, Nuevas Ideas.
The Election Observation Mission, comprised of 95 observers from 20 different nationalities, was deployed across all 14 departments of the country. Notably, they also monitored polling stations abroad, including in Ciudad de Guatemala, Barcelona, Mexico, and Washington, overseeing a total of 1,143 voting booths.
Isabel de Saint Malo, the head of the mission, commended the massive voter turnout nationwide and the historic engagement of Salvadorans living abroad. She praised the peaceful conduct of the election, stating, “We highlight the calm with which this election took place on Sunday and its peaceful celebration.”
The report acknowledged the efforts of the national government and security forces in ensuring an incident-free electoral process throughout the country. Despite some challenges, such as delays in processing election results due to deficiencies in the Supreme Electoral Tribunal’s system, the OAS urged electoral authorities to take necessary measures to prevent such issues in the upcoming municipal elections on March 3.
The international observers confirmed a substantial lead for Nayib Bukele, leaving no doubt about the presidential election results. Furthermore, they collected data on the legislative elections, indicating that Nuevas Ideas is poised to secure a supermajority. The potential supermajority could provide the president with significant mandate powers, calling for a responsible and deeply democratic exercise of authority.
In their official statement, the OAS commended the overall transparency of the electoral process while urging continuous improvements to ensure the integrity and efficiency of future elections. El Salvador now looks towards a new political era, shaped by a peaceful and democratically elected leadership.