El Salvador reelects Nayib Bukele amid gang crackdown, concerns of erosion of democracy| El Salvador

(ASSOCIATED PRESS) El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele is savoring what appears to be a landslide reelection victory, and is railing against his international critics and the press. The populist leader has declared himself a harbinger of democracy, not the case study for 21st century autocracy that some fear. Bukele told thousands of cheering supporters Sunday night that El Salvador hasn’t known democracy until now, though he acknowledged that his vision of that ideal is distinct from the norm. “It will be the first time in a country that just one party exists in a completely democratic system,” Bukele said, adding that “the entire opposition together was pulverized.” Bukele will be El Salvador’s first reelected president, following Sunday’s election. His party’s majority in congress and a friendly court they stacked allowed him to dodge a constitutional ban. By Monday, Bukele had 83% of the vote against 7% from his nearest competitor with ballots from about 71% of polling stations tallied in a troubled process plagued by glitches, according to preliminary data from the Supreme Electoral Tribunal. Bukele describes himself as the “world’s coolest dictator,” and his firm grip on power was only expected to strengthen. He predicted his New Ideas party would win an even larger congressional majority, but Monday the ballots from only 5% of polling places had been tallied. If true, analysts say the leader would be able to continue his controversial crackdown on the gangs and potentially reform the country’s constitution — a move already proposed by his government once before — to stay in power. Bukele’s victory lap was met with a roar from the crowd donning t-shirts, scarves, hats, puppets, masks and life-sized cardboard cutouts emblazoned with his face. But others say the Central American nation is headed down a dangerous path that could corrode democracy and trickle out to the rest of the region.