LATIN AMERICA Elect

OE Watch Commentary: On 3 January, thirty-seven year old Nayib Bukele won “…unpopularity of the Maduro regime in all of …” the presidential elections held in as the excerpted article from ABC reports. He is to be sworn in on 1 June. The election was novel for a number of reasons, one of which is the evident rejection of the traditional parties (ARENA and the FMLN). As the excerpt from BBC Mundo notes, Bukele’s election seems to announce the electorate’s departure from the country’s bi-party tradition. The article suggests that as a result, he may have some difficulty gaining the necessary votes for some of his initiatives. He had been a member of the Marxist FMLN until just two years ago. Unable to register a new party in time for these elections, he ran as the candidate of a smaller rightist party, the Grand Alliance for National Unity (GANA). The other excerpt from ABC notes that the results have to be counted as a loss for El Salvador’s far left (the FMLN Outgoing president Salvador Sánchez Cerén (L) with the president-elect Nayib Bukele (R), 2015. Source: Presidencia El Salvador [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Reuni%C3%B3n_del_presidente_S%C3%A1nchez_Cer%C3%A9n_con_el_alcalde_de_San_ garnered under 15 percent of the vote), in Salvador.jpg. part a reaction to the failure of the Maduro regime in , as well as to a lackluster management performance by the leftist incumbent President Salvador Sánchez Cerén, who in any case has been a staunch supporter of the Maduro regime. The results are yet another setback for the region’s Bolivarian alliance. President-elect Bukele has already hinted, as the BBC Mundo excerpt reports, that he will not be giving further support to the Maduro regime. End OE Watch Commentary (Demarest)

Source: Adrián Espallargas, “Bukele gana Source: Marcos González Díaz, “Elecciones en El Source: Emiili J. Blasco, “La en El Salvador con su lucha contra la Salvador: quién es Nayib Bukele, el joven empresario cercanía a Maduro y la mala corrupción (Bukele wins in El Salvador que será el próximo presidente del país centroamericano gestión económica castigan with his fight against corruption),”ABC , tras arrasar frente a los partidos tradicionales (Elections al FMLN en El Salvador 5 February 2019. https://www.abc.es/ in El Salvador: who is Nayib Bukele, the Young (Closeness to Maduro and por internacional/abci-bukele-gana-salvador- businessman who will be the next president of the Central economic management punishes lucha-contra-corrupcion-201902050300_ American country after sweeping the traditional parties),” the FMLN in El Salvador),” noticia.html BBC Mundo, 4 February 2019. https://www.bbc.com/ ABC, 6 February 2019. https:// mundo/noticias-america-latina-47112057 www.abc.es/internacional/abci- “Nayib Bukele …was proclaimed president cercania-maduro-y-mala-gestion- “With an image characterized by a leather jacket and for the period 2019-2024 with 53% of the economica-castigan-fmln- votes… sunglasses, Bukele awakened the attention of youth and salvador-201902061658_noticia. With the victory of the GANA candidate, ‘millennials’ thanks to a campaign centered on social html media… the Central American country puts an end “The growing unpopularity of Roberto Cañas, analyst and ex-commander of the to more than 25 years of administrations the Maduro regime in all of Latin FMLN…’…the label left or right does no suffice to define from the rightist party… America and the unviability of what is happening.’…’Bukele is not associated with that (Arena) collected 31.77% of the votes, while the same Chavista prescriptions political past in El Salvador in which one said that they que Hugo Martínez (FMLN) gained 14.41% during the last ten years in El were of ARENA or the FMLN… of the votes and Josué Alvarado () Salvador by the old guerrilla of 0.78%... Bukele already marked a difference regarding the stance the Farabundo Martí National Businessman of Palestinian origin and he is thinking of holding with countries like Venezuela Liberation Front (FMLN) only 37 years old, Bukele is a relatively or Nicaragua, publicly supported by the outgoing explains to a great extent the recent arrival to the political system in El [President] Sánchez Cerén. ‘A dictator is a dictator. Of presidential election results this Salvador…” left or right, he [Bukele] asserted [on Twitter].” Sunday.”

OE Watch | March 2019 57