El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday secured a landslide reelection victory, announcing his triumph before official results were released.
With provisional results showing him holding 83% of the vote with more than 70% of ballots counted on Monday morning, however, thousands of the 42-year-old's supporters thronged San Salvador's central square to celebrate his second term.
Despite fears of an eroding democracy and a shift toward authoritarian rule, his support appeared overwhelming, stemming largely from his crackdown on gangs, which has imprisoned more than 76,000 Salvadorans without charges.
Bukele came to power in 2019 with promises to rid the nation of gang violence. The crackdown began in 2022, when he announced a state of emergency following a violent weekend, allowing him to detain and imprison those suspected of gang activity without charges.
Since the 2022 state of emergency, murder rates have dropped sharply, although the sustainability of Bukele's mass incarceration strategy is doubted by analysts.
Opponents worry Bukele's power will contribute to a move toward authoritarian rule, as Bukele's New Ideas party is expected to win nearly all 60 seats in the legislative body, potentially allowing him to abolish constitutional term limits.
These fears were sparked by a Supreme Electoral Tribunal decision to allow Bukele to seek reelection despite El Salvador's constitution prohibiting it.
"We are not substituting democracy, because El Salvador never had democracy," Bukele said in response to claims of authoritarian rule. "This is the first time in history that El Salvador has democracy. And I'm not saying it, the people say it."
As Bukele enters his second term as president, he faces not only the issue of gang violence, but a slowly growing economy in which more than a quarter of the population lives in poverty.
Bukele made Bitcoin legal tender in 2021 to foster economic growth, but the decision was criticized by the International Monetary Fund, which last year labeled El Salvador's economy as "fragile" amid negotiations for a $1.3 billion loan.
Some material for this report came from Reuters and The Associated Press.
