SAN SALVADOR — President Nayib Bukele on Sunday declared himself the winner of El Salvador’s national elections in a landslide, claiming he captured more than 85% of the vote – even though electoral officials have not released any results.
Bukele was the heavy favorite to win another five-year term as voters largely cast aside concerns about the erosion of democracy to reward him for a fierce gang crackdown that improved security in the Central American country.
Bukele, 42, said his New Ideas party also captured at least 58 positions in El Salvador’s 60-seat legislative assembly, citing unspecified information that he had access to.
READ: El Salvador’s Bukele set for landslide election win on gang crackdown
“A record in the entire democratic history of the world,” Bukele said on X, the social media site. “See you at 9 p.m. in front of the National Palace.”
Electoral officials have not commented on the results yet. Polls closed at 5 p.m. (2300 GMT), about two hours before Bukele claimed victory. An exit poll by CID Gallup put Bukele’s support at 87%.
Bukele appears poised to become the first Salvadoran president in almost a century to be re-elected.
Wildly popular, Bukele has campaigned on the success of his security strategy under which authorities suspended civil liberties to arrest more than 75,000 Salvadorans without charges. The detentions led to a sharp decline in nationwide murder rates and transformed a country of 6.3 million people that was once among the world’s most dangerous.
However, some analysts have said the mass incarceration of 1% of the population is not sustainable long-term.