Fireworks erupted in El Salvador’s capital Sunday as gang-busting President Nayib Bukele claimed to have won reelection with more than 85 percent of votes cast: “a record in the entire democratic history of the world.”
Bukele, 42, polls as Latin America’s most popular leader, possibly the world, on the back of a war on gangs that has slashed homicide rates in the violence-weary country.
“According to our numbers we have won the presidential election with more than 85 percent of votes,” he said on X, formerly Twitter, two hours after polls closed but before official results were announced.
De acuerdo a nuestros números, hemos ganado la elección presidencial con más del 85% de los votos y un mínimo de 58 de 60 diputados de la Asamblea.
El récord en toda la historia democrática del mundo.
Nos vemos a las 9pm frente al Palacio Nacional.
Dios bendiga a El Salvador.
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) February 5, 2024
As fireworks went off in different parts of San Salvador, hundreds of people gathered on a central square cheering and blowing whistles in celebration.
“We are more than happy with this victory: we will have Bukele for five more years,” Lorena Escobar, a 38-year-old nurse, told AFP.
El Salvador’s fearsome gangs took some 120,000 civilian lives in three decades, according to the government, which says criminal groups controlled 80 percent of the country when Bukele took power in 2019.
Under a state of emergency introduced in March 2022, his government has rounded up more than 75,000 gangsters — real and suspected.
