El Salvador faces complex elections

El Salvador faces a complex electoral scenario despite surveys and expert opinions, assuming the victory of the Nuevas Ideas party and its candidate Nayib Bukele, on February 4th.

The situation is critical, as inquiries indicate that Salvadorans will go to the elections with a lack of information about the groups and candidates facing Nuevas Ideas.

Several sources indicate that the population is uninformed about the proposals of the parties and candidates, especially due to the lack of resources and that the party in government takes up almost all spaces.

According to the Cristosal organization, this is the worst moment for access to public information in the country, since 63 percent of the requests were not delivered by the institutions after being asked for by journalists and the association.

The situation was addressed on Tuesday by a consortium of organizations called “Observa El Salvador 2024” which assured that there is an unbalanced field in the country for the contenders in the elections, limited transparency on the part of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) and a threatened civic space.

Despite what the Court says, in the country there is an abnormal context for citizens participation in the electoral process, the consortium stated, and also named attacks on journalists, opinion leaders and human rights defenders as examples.

The group estimated that although a variety of political parties with different ideological trends participate in the 2024 elections, there is a marked simplification between the official narrative and those that question it, with polarizing speeches and disinformation campaigns.