Self-described “world’s coolest dictator,” Nayib Bukele on Sunday secured a thumping victory in El Salvador’s elections, with voters casting aside concerns about the erosion of democracy to reward him for a fierce gang crackdown that transformed security in the Central American country once terrorized by crime. With 31% of ballots counted, Bukele had 83% of the vote — more than twice the 7% for his nearest competitor from the left-wing Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front. An electoral website updating the count crashed shortly before midnight.
The millennial president, who catapulted to power in 2019 after creating his political party, has become one of the most popular leaders in Latin America by pursuing draconian measures against street gangs and overseeing a massive drop in homicide rates. His popularity has drawn attention from the region, with leaders seeking to emulate his methods in a continent where migration is booming.
But critics say that while the country’s homicide rate has fallen, human rights violations have skyrocketed under Bukele’s rule. He installed a state of emergency last year, and his government has been accused of mistreatment of civilians, including arbitrary arrests and detention without trial. Thousands of people have been detained under the state of emergency, and the government admits to making mistakes, but it defends the move as necessary to defeat the gangs.
Carlos Flores, a 36-year-old lawyer, says he is among the many who have been swept up in the government’s campaign against the gangs. He has had to change jobs because of a crackdown, and he has been unable to travel outside the capital. But he says that it’s worth it to be able to live in a city that no longer feels like a war zone.
Thousands of Bukele’s supporters clad in cyan blue and waving flags thronged San Salvador’s central square to celebrate his re-election, which the 42-year-old leader termed a “referendum” on his government. He vowed to continue his anti-crime policies and to tackle corruption. The re-election boosts his chances of winning a third term in 2024 and gives him greater leeway to reform the country’s constitution. Critics say he has already taken undemocratic steps to concentrate power in his hands, including showing up in Congress with soldiers while pushing his agenda and appointing new judges to the Supreme Court who are loyal to him.
Bukele has shown no remorse for comparing himself to autocrats, once updating his Twitter biography to read: “I am a strongman that governs with an iron fist.” But the resounding victory shows that his critics have failed to persuade voters to back away from the tradeoff of curtailed civil liberties for security. And it needs to be made clear how long they will be able to do so.
