SAN SALVADOR.- In his second report on the presidential and legislative elections of El Salvadorthe OAS Electoral Observer Mission He said there is no doubt about the election results, although he did highlight a number of irregularities.
“The post-electoral process was deficient, slow and disorganized. However, the Mission has no doubts about the results delivered by the electoral authority,” says the EOM/OAS report.
The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) has already declared the final count final, confirming that the young businessman Nayib Bukele was re-elected in the presidential elections on February 4 with 84.6% of the votes, so he will govern the country for five more years.
Bukele received 2,701,725 votesconsiderably surpassing second place Manuel Flores, of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), who obtained 204,167 votes, 6.40%.
The TSE also made official the final scrutiny of the legislative elections, which granted 54 of the 60 deputies from the ruling Nuevas Ideas party and confirmed that he obtained a qualified majority in Congress, which guarantees that the president’s initiatives will not face obstacles for at least three years.
The OAS Mission pointed out delays in the delivery of credentials for the final scrutiny of the elections, over-vigilance by people from Nuevas Ideas, deficient training and attacks on journalists during the electoral process.
Complaints
In relation to this issue, he pointed out that the Association of Journalists of El Salvador (APES) also called on the TSE to generate the necessary conditions for the exercise of journalistic activity during the scrutiny.
The EOM/OAS says that they received 62 complaints, 46 in the electoral process and 16 in the post-electoral stage, and all the documentation was transferred to the TSE.
The Mission points out that delays were evident in the issuance and control of the credentials delivered to enter the facilities of the National Gymnasium, where the TSE installed 300 tables for the final scrutiny. Furthermore, he assured that the political parties that participated in said scrutiny did not respect the number of security guards and that Nuevas Ideas had a much higher number than the rest.
On Sunday, March 3, municipal elections and for the Central American Parliament (Parlecen) will be held. The OAS Mission confirmed that it will return to observe this electoral process.
Source: With information from AP
