These are the candidates who challenge Bukele in the El Salvador elections

El Salvador will hold presidential and legislative elections next Sunday, February 4, after a campaign marked by the controversial candidacy of President Nayib Bukele, whom polls place as the favorite, with a wide advantage over the other five candidates.

According to a survey by the University Institute of Public Opinion (Iudop), published on January 18, Bukele has 81.9% of support, while the other five participating candidates add up to a 12.2% among all.

The survey also gives victory to Bukele's party (Nuevas Ideas) in the National Assembly, since it is estimated that it would reach 57 of the 60 seats during the same election date on Sunday.

Another survey, carried out by the Center for Citizen Studies of the Francisco Gavidia University (UFG) and published on January 17, gives him a forceful 90% of the votes for Bukele.

While the study “These are the data, don't get angry,” also carried out by the UFG, says that nine out of ten Salvadorans would re-elect the president.

The 42-year-old president, with a youthful style and strong speech, has become the most popular president in Latin America, according to Latinobarómetro 2023after ensuring that he has managed to transform El Salvador, a nation plagued by gang violence, into one of the safest countries in the world.

Read alsoKeys to understanding the “Bukele effect” in Latin America

His candidacy has been controversial because, although the Salvadoran Constitution explicitly prohibits presidential re-election, Bukele took advantage of a controversial constitutional interpretation to register his candidacy, arguing that the country needs continuity in its anti-crime policies.

However, five candidates will compete with him at the polls on Sunday. Who are the candidates who dared to fight Bukele?

Manuel Flores, “the alternative” on the left in this race

He has placed himself in second place in voting intentions, but very far from Bukele, with a 3.6%, according to various surveys. Nicknamed 'El Chino', he was the mayor of Quezaltepeque between 2003 and 2012 and then served as a deputy between 2012 and 2021.

He is currently running as a leftist candidate for the opposition Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front, a former guerrilla that later became a political party after the end of the Salvadoran civil war in 1992.

'Chino' Flores defends his candidacy as a alternative to the current Bukele Government. “I feel committed to our heroes and martyrs, committed to the history they want to bury,” he told the press.

Joel Sánchez, under the shadow of his party's corruption scandals

Also a businessman like Bukele, Sánchez returned to El Salvador from the United States, where he lived for more than 30 years. The candidate ran with the Nationalist Republican Alliance party (right), who ruled the country for 20 years.

Sánchez's candidacy faces the 3.4% of voting intention and recently told the EFE agency that, despite the forecasts, he is adding all his efforts to achieve the Presidency of the country.

However, Sánchez has had to deal with all the signs of corruption that several former presidents face of his party and which Bukele has condemned on different occasions.

Luis Alberto Parada, the candidate who disobeyed his advisors

Lawyer, former military man and former presidential candidate, Parada has dedicated his life to Salvadoran politics, even during the Central American country's civil war, and now decided to run as a candidate for the Nuestro Tiempo party.

With the 1.39% support, the 63-year-old politician said in an interview with the Nicaraguan media 'Divergentes' that his initial objective was to oppose the legislative elections, but that finally his party proposed him “curb” Bukele's aspirations.

In the same interview, Parada said that his advisors recommended that he not run for these presidential elections, which he ignored and is now one of the candidates present on the card.

José Javier Renderos: from medicine to politics

His candidacy defends health and it was to be expected. Renderos is a doctor of Medicine and now represents the Fuerza Solidaria party, with a 0.76% support, according to the polls. Education, the environment and the economy are also part of the pillars of his campaign.

The 61-year-old candidate has made strong criticisms of the exception regime, imposed almost two years ago by Bukele and that allows the State to take immediate measures, such as imprisoning without trial or carrying out inspections of homes without a court order.

Renderos has said that, if he wins, he would suspend the regime and look for different alternatives to guarantee security for Salvadorans.

Mariana Murillo, the only woman in the race

It is the first time that a woman competes for the presidency of El Salvador since 1994, also with a 0.76% voting intention. Murillo has highlighted in his campaign the importance of education, the economy and health.

The 63-year-old candidate has been optimistic despite the polls and has criticized Bukele for the at least 75,000 incarcerations that his Government is proud to count.

Bukele defends the imprisonments as a war against gangs, but various international organizations label the measures as police abuses and violations of human rights.

With local media