Polls open in El Salvador where Nayib Bukele is set to be re-elected

By Laura Gamba

BOGOTA, Colombia (AA) - El Salvador headed to the polls Sunday to vote in a presidential election that will most likely give President Nayib Bukele a second term after declaring a crackdown on criminal gangs in a country that was once the world's most dangerous one, but became one of the safest in the region.

Under Bukele, more than 75,000 people have been arrested under a state of emergency instituted in 2022 after a gang massacre that killed 87 people in a single weekend. El Salvador has incarcerated an estimated 2% of its adult population. His administration opened last year a new mega-prison designed to house 40,000 people.

Bukele’s war on criminal gangs has fueled his popularity in the Central American country, where there has been a dramatic fall in the murder rate. In 2015, El Salvador faced 105 murders per 100,000 residents, but Bukele's crime crackdown reduced this figure to 7.8 per 100,000.

The incumbent president enjoys one of the highest favorability ratings in the region, polling above 80% in some surveys, despite a constitutional ban on reelection. In 2021 the Supreme Court, composed of justices selected by Bukele´s New Ideas party's majority in Congress ruled that the president could seek a second five-year term.

Rights groups have accused Bukele´s administration of committing widespread human rights abuses. About 7,000 people have been freed from prison for a lack of evidence, but activists say many innocents remain behind bars.

But beyond criminal violence that is under control for now, the president has other complex challenges. The young president adopted Bitcoin as legal tender in El Salvador in 2021 a decision that has been heavily criticized by the International Monetary Fund and he has promised to rejuvenate the country's stagnant economy although more than a quarter of Salvadorans still live in poverty.

Polls close at 6 p.m. eastern time with results expected to be announced before midnight.​​​​​​​