Presidential Elections in El Salvador 2019. The Defeat of the FMLN and a New Government with Nayib Bukele

Abstract

Every five years presidential elections are held in El Salvador, in the Central American region. Elections for deputies and municipal presidents are held every three years. Two consecutive periods of the government of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) in the country (2009 to 2019) showed that the leaders of this former guerrilla organization failed in their proposal for economic and political development. The 2018 legislative elections then showed that they could lose the presidency for the national elections of the following year. And, indeed, a new political option emerged for the country with the election of the new president Nayib Bukele in 2019. After the terrible war conflict of 1970s and 1980s, the ultra-right Republican Nationalist Alliance (ARENA) governed El Salvador for 20 years; but finally, the FMLN conquered the support of the people in 2009. Using a method of documentary analysis (books, articles, surveys and statistics) and interviewing researchers on the Central American area, we tried to find out why the FMLN option, which had been a guerrilla organization and could have had the presidency of the country, caused a disenchantment in the population after two consecutive periods of government. We got the answer in the general dissatisfaction with the growing violence in the country, the internal divisions of the organization and a social policy that did not lead to an improvement of life of Salvadorans. Our conclusion points to the great difficulty a leftist government had in keeping its fundamental promises and how citizens can exercise a punishment vote and opt for new options. In addition, the question remains about the new project for the country that the emerging figure of the new president-elect Nayib Bukele represents.