Presidential and Legislative Elections, 4 February 2024

El Salvador held general elections on 4 February 2024 to elect the president, vice-president and legislative assembly. As both head of state and head of government, the president is elected for a single 5-year term, with the vice-president on the same ballot paper (Country Reports 2024). Elections can go into a second round if no absolute majority is secured, between the two highest performing candidates (ACE Project 2021). 

The independent electoral management body overseeing national and local elections is the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (Tribunal Supremo Electoral, TSE). It consists of a maximum of ten members, and they follow both constitutional and legislative laws when regulating elections (ACE Project 2021).  

The credibility of TSE came under scrutiny during these elections due to discrepancies detected in the vote tallies presented on their website as well as the loss of ballots during transportation to San Salvador (El Salvador Perspectives 2024). Connectivity issues with Wi-Fi forced many polling stations to revert to manual voting from the electronic voting system. Reports emerged of challenging working conditions, with some poll workers made to count votes for over 24 hours (BBC News Mundo 2024). 

Incumbent Nayib Bukele won the elections with an increased vote share of 86.22 per cent, having previously won by 53.1 per cent (Country Reports 2024). Few citizens wanted a recounting of votes, seeing his reelection as legitimate notwithstanding the previous constitutional bar on consecutive presidential terms  (Grant 2024; EFE 2024). The Supreme Court had overturned this rule in May 2021 (CNN Español 2022). 

Critics point out that the elections took place under the ongoing “state of exception” introduced during Bukele’s first-term which granted sweeping powers to the police and military and under which large numbers were detained under anti-gang policies  such an increased use of social media (David Ramírez 2024; Grant 2024). El Salvador-based reporters belonging to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) published a letter demanding the protection of human rights and freedom of expression in the country, as it was found that many journalists were being denied journalistic freedom before, during, and after the election, and could experience violence (Romeu 2024). On social media, Bukele predominates with over seven million followers on TikTok (Stuenkel 2024). 

There were allegations of vote buying, as one of the candidates began to inaugurate public work and benefits months before the elections (Durán 2024). International observers arrived on a staggered basis from 25 January 2024 (OAS 2024). The voter turnout for the presidential election was 52.6 per cent, close to the 51.88 per cent turnout recorded in 2018 (International IDEA 2024). 

In the 2024-2027 legislative assembly of El Salvador, women will hold 19 out of 60 seats, or 31.7 per cent (Galdamez 2024). OAS observers addressed how physical and online violence towards women (candidates, voters, and female polling staff) was an obstacle for increased female political representation (Villarroel 2024). CSOs in El Salvador noted more than 37,000 attacks on women in the political arena. Most attacks were psychological, emotional, symbolic and sometimes included sexual violence (OAS 2024).

OAS observers noted that the elections and whole electoral period were the most peaceful since they started observation missions in El Salvador. It was also noted that new opportunities for those voting from abroad, such as the implementation of electronic voting and the extended deadline for casting votes remotely, expanded voting rights and incentives to increase the number of voters.