A large proportion of the votes cast in the presidential and parliamentary elections in El Salvador must be recounted. Due to technical problems, almost 30 percent of the ballot boxes used for the presidential election and all ballot boxes used in the parliamentary election in the Central American country would have to be checked, the President of the Supreme Electoral Court, Dora Martínez, announced on Monday (local time).
After 70 percent of the votes were counted, the controversial head of state Nayib Bukele was in the lead with 83 percent on Monday morning. Since then, however, the results have not been updated in the electoral authority’s electronic system. In the parliamentary election, the delays were even more serious: only five percent of the votes have been counted so far.
Media reported problems such as voice duplication when uploading data to the electronic system. President Bukele had already declared himself the winner of the election before the first results were announced. In addition, his party Nuevas Ideas (New Ideas) won at least 58 of the 60 seats in parliament, he announced. The conservative head of state is known for his tough approach to crime and his authoritarian course. El Salvador’s constitution actually prohibits the direct re-election of the president. However, constitutional judges loyal to the government allowed Bukele to run.