El Salvador reelects president in landslide victory

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele on Monday received roughly 83 percent of votes with about 70 percent of ballots counted in the country’s presidential election. There were reports of ballot counting issues at some locations, with some election workers finding it difficult to tally or transmit votes. Bukele’s New Ideas party was also expected to win a wide majority of legislative seats in the country’s National Assembly.

Why did he win by such a large margin? Supporters say Bukele’s party has cracked down on gang violence to such a degree that El Salvador has gone from being one of Latin America’s most violent countries to one of its safest countries over Bukele’s first five-year term. Critics say he curtailed some civil liberties during the crackdown, allowing him to arrest 75,000 people without due process.

Dig deeper: Read Emma Freire and Elizabeth Russell’s report in WORLD Magazine about Argentina’s newly-elected president.