Magistrates of the Electoral Tribunal of El Salvador dissociate themselves from the method that gave Bukele victory | EUROtoday

The 5 substitute magistrates that make up the Electoral Court of El Salvador have disassociated themselves from the elections that on February 4 gave a landslide victory to the controversial president Nayib Bukele. The Salvadoran newspaper The lighthouse has revealed three letters despatched by these officers to their fellow homeowners of the collegiate physique, by which every week after the elections they denounce that in the course of the course of actions had been dedicated that had been removed from the “legal” and “correct” method of directing a technique of this type. magnitude and affirm that “we are no longer in the position to accept decisions that have not been issued legally” nor “declarations and commitments made unilaterally.”

Bukele achieved re-election with an awesome majority of 82% of votes, in line with the outcomes made public by the Electoral Court on February 9, after chaotic days of counting the votes, as a result of failure of the preliminary recount system. The electoral authorities reported that they’d open all of the polls and perform a ballot-by-ballot depend to find out the variety of deputies elected to the National Assembly. The electoral physique said that the ultimate depend “was a success” and regardless of criticism from the opposition and native observers, the victory of Bukele and his New Ideas political motion has been taken as a right.

The course of, nevertheless, has been denounced by 5 substitute magistrates of the court docket, who’ve said that selections had been made that weren’t in accordance with the regulation. In addition to the failure within the vote transmission system, these officers have warned of the criticism made by the opposition, which has insisted that the court docket didn’t present well timed details about the mechanism they need to observe in counting the votes. The right-wing Arena occasion determined to withdraw from the scrutiny contemplating that the electoral authorities didn’t assure “the conditions of a transparent process,” as reported. The lighthouse.

In one of many letters revealed by the Salvadoran media, the magistrates report that that they had warned that the TSE was “out of time to solve” the issues that the electoral system was dealing with. According to that letter, “the magistrates say that by January 25 they knew that 'they were in an irremediable crisis' that had already altered a good part of the General Election Plan (PLAGEL). This plan consists of 25 programs (or work axes) into which the organization of the electoral process is subdivided and which is considered the backbone of the entire organization. The crisis and the rulings that were not amended in the last days of January, according to the substitute magistrates, could only have one result: a crisis on voting day,” reports The lighthouse. Officials also expressed doubts about the proper functioning of the electoral equipment. “Were they properly tested? “Were some changes made that prevented its correct functioning?”, expressed the magistrates, who also affirm that they demanded that they be informed of the decisions that the organization made regarding the process. “We cannot accept any responsibility for the problems that were presented to us untimely and the consequences that were reflected on February 4 [día de la elección]”, they report.

On the same day of the elections, President Bukele declared a landslide victory, before the Electoral Tribunal ruled on the results. That night, the Salvadoran president announced his victory with 85% without waiting for the official results and attacked the opposition and the press. The victory allows Bukele, 42, to continue with the emergency regime and his controversial policy to confront violence, which has allowed him to dismantle the so-called maras, gangs that spread terror in the Central American country. With the emergency regime imposed eleven months ago by the president, more than 70,000 people have been imprisoned. Human rights organizations have denounced that in many cases these are illegal captures, spurious trials and that serious violations have been committed in the country's prisons. Bukele has criticized these complaints and despite them he maintains high approval from the population, who applauds the measures against gangs. “Yes, okay, some unpleasant things have happened,” residents told this newspaper, “but we are a thousand times better than before.”

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