Presidential elections were held in

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

on 3 February 2019, with Salvadorans electing the

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

and

vice president A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

for a five-year term from 2019 to 2024. The election resulted in victory for

Nayib Bukele Nayib Armando Bukele Ortez (; born 24 July 1981) is a Salvadoran politician and businessman who has served as the 81st president of El Salvador since 2019. In 1999, Bukele established an advertising company and worked at an advertising com ...

of the right-wing Grand Alliance for National Unity (GANA), who received 53%, defeating

Carlos Calleja Juan Carlos Calleja Hakker (born 11 February 1976) is a Salvadoran businessman and former politician. Calleja is currently the CEO of Grupo Éxito and the vice president of the Calleja Group which owns Supermercados Super Selectos, the largest ...

of the right-wing

Nationalist Republican Alliance The Nationalist Republican Alliance (, abbreviated ARENA) is a conservative, center-right to right-wing political party of El Salvador. It was founded on 30 September 1981 by retired Salvadoran Army Major Roberto D'Aubuisson. It defines itse ...

(ARENA), Hugo Martínez of the left-wing

Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (, abbreviated FMLN) is a Salvadoran political party and former guerrilla rebel group. The FMLN was formed as an umbrella group on 10 October 1980, from five leftist guerrilla organizations; ...

(FMLN) and Josué Alvarado of the centrist

Vamos Vamos (Greek language, Greek: Βάμος) is a small town and former municipality in the Chania (regional unit), Chania regional unit, Crete, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform "Kallikratis" it is a municipal unit, part of the municipa ...

party. With his victory, Bukele became the first president since

José Napoleón Duarte José Napoleón Duarte Fuentes (23 November 1925 – 23 February 1990) was a El Salvador, Salvadoran politician who served as President of El Salvador from 1 June 1984 to 1 June 1989. He was mayor of San Salvador before running for president in ...

(1984–1989) to not be a member of either ARENA or the FMLN, which had controlled the presidency in a

two-party system A two-party system is a political party system in which two major political parties consistently dominate the political landscape. At any point in time, one of the two parties typically holds a majority in the legislature and is usually referr ...

from 1989 to 2019. Prior to the elections, Bukele held a lead against Calleja, Martínez and Alvarado in virtually every poll conducted between July 2018 and January 2019. A

second round The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of Un ...

in March was rendered unnecessary as Bukele won an outright majority; Bukele won a plurality in all of the country's fourteen departments, winning an outright majority in eight of them. Bukele was inaugurated on 1 June 2019.

Background

Presidency of Salvador Sánchez Cerén

Acto oficial Traspaso de mando Presidencial 18

Salvador Sánchez Cerén, the then vice president of El Salvador, won the 2014 presidential election by a narrow margin. As a member of the left-wing

(FMLN), he defeated Norman Quijano, the then mayor of San Salvador of the right-wing

, in that election's second round, winning 50.11 percent of the vote by a margin of 6,364 votes. Sánchez Cerén was inaugurated on 1 June 2014, succeeding fellow FMLN President

Mauricio Funes Carlos Mauricio Funes Cartagena (18 October 1959 – 21 January 2025) was a Salvadoran politician and journalist who served as the 79th president of El Salvador from 2009 to 2014. Funes won the 2009 presidential election as the candidate of t ...

. He was the first former guerrilla fighter from the

Salvadoran Civil War The Salvadoran Civil War () was a twelve-year civil war in El Salvador that was fought between the government of El Salvador, backed by the United States, and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), a coalition of left-wing guer ...

to be elected president. Although in control of the presidency, the FMLN did not have a majority of the Legislative Assembly, with power being divided between it, ARENA, and various other political parties. In the 2015 legislative election, the FMLN won 31 seats and ARENA won 35 seats, with the remaining 18 seats being controlled by other parties. In the succeeding 2018 legislative election, the FMLN fell to 23 seats while ARENA increased to 38 seats, with the remaining 23 seats being controlled by other parties.

Electoral system

Electoral procedure

In October 2017, the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) scheduled

's upcoming 2019 presidential election to occur on 3 February 2019, with a possible

being scheduled for 10 March 2019. In the election, Salvadorans would elect the country's

and

to serve a five-year term from 2019 to 2024. A presidential candidate needed to win an

absolute majority A majority is more than half of a total; however, the term is commonly used with other meanings, as explained in the " Related terms" section below. It is a subset of a set consisting of more than half of the set's elements. For example, if a gr ...

(50%+1) to be declared the winner of the election. If no candidate received an absolute majority, a second between the two candidates with the most valid votes would have occurred. All presidential and vice presidential candidates must have been at least 30 years old and be Salvadoran citizens by birth.

Electoral dates

The following tables lists dates which mark events which related to the election.

Electoral campaigns

Nationalist Republican Alliance

On 27 October 2017, , the president of the Nationalist Republican Alliance, announced that the party would hold its primary election on 22 April 2018. Six members of the party expressed interest in securing the party's presidential nomination: * Gerardo Awad, businessman *

, businessman * Gustavo López, businessman * Rafael Montalvo, former deputy of the Legislative Assembly * Luis Parada, lawyer * Javier Simán, businessman In October 2017, Parada withdrew his candidacy, believing that his campaign would be impossible. In December 2017, Awad and Montalvo were eliminated from competition, while Calleja, Simán, and López advanced to the party's primary election where Calleja won 60.8 percent of the vote, officially becoming the party's presidential nominee.

Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front

On 28 February 2018, the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front announced that it would hold its primary election on 27 May 2018. Óscar Ortiz, the then vice president of El Salvador, was a potential candidate to secure the party's nomination, but he declined to run after Salvador Cerén appointed him as the technical secretary of the presidency. Two party members announced their intention to seek the party's presidential nomination: * , former deputy of the Legislative Assembly * Hugo Martínez,

minister of foreign affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

(2014–2018) On 27 May 2018, Hugo Martínez was selected as the party's presidential nominee, winning 72.09 percent of the vote. The party elected Karina Sosa, a former deputy of the Legislative Assembly, as the party's vice presidential nominee.

Grand Alliance for National Unity

The Grand Alliance for National Unity held its primary election on 29 July 2018. Two candidates participated in the election,

, the former mayor of San Salvador from 2015 to 2018, and , the former mayor of San Miguel, but the day before the election, Salgado announced that he withdrew from the primary. Although Salgado withdrew, his name was still on the ballot, but regardless, Bukele won 93.71 percent of the vote and was selected as the party's presidential nominee. Bukele's campaign slogan was "Let's Make History" ("").

Presidential candidates

Debates

Two presidential debates were held; the first was hosted by the

University of El Salvador The University of El Salvador (UES) is the oldest and the most prominent university institution in El Salvador. It serves as the national university of the country. The main campus, Ciudad Universitaria, is located in the capital of San Salvador ...

(UES) on 16 December 2018 and the second was hosted by the (ASDER). Calleja, Martínez, and Alvarado attended both debates, while Bukele was absent from both.

Opinion polls

Opinion polling from July 2018 through January 2019 consistently gave Bukele a lead over Calleja, Martínez, and Alvarado.

Results

By department

Notes

References

External links

Supreme Electoral Court website
*
Constitution of El Salvador
*
Law of Political Parties
{{Authority control

Presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The p ...

Presidential Presidential elections in El Salvador Nayib Bukele