[{"bbox": [86, 153, 341, 184], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 2.2 Problem Analysis"}, {"bbox": [97, 200, 1134, 360], "category": "Text", "text": "After the 1992 peace accords, two traditional parties dominated El Salvador's political landscape; the right-wing ARENA party ruled for 20 years and then the left-wing FMLN party ruled for 10 years. Although other small parties had seats in the Legislative Assembly, these two traditional big parties had the majority of the population's support. However, in 2019 and 2021 drastic changes took place with a new political party under the leadership of Nayib Bukele, winning the presidential and legislative elections with a wide difference from other parties, changing the traditional political party system."}, {"bbox": [97, 370, 1134, 426], "category": "Text", "text": "This transformation appears to be weakening the checks, balances between institutions, and has raised concerns for the respect of human rights¹⁶."}, {"bbox": [97, 436, 1134, 516], "category": "Text", "text": "Studies have reported that Salvadorans lost confidence in traditional political parties mainly due to an endemic corruption and plutocracy¹⁷. This disenchantment was observed in the most recent electoral results, when traditional parties went from holding 75% of seats in 2015, to 63% in 2018 and to 21% in 2021."}, {"bbox": [97, 528, 1134, 661], "category": "Text", "text": "El Salvador is experiencing significant institutional and political changes. In 2024, President Nayib Bukele was re-elected with 84% of the votes, and his party \"Nuevas Ideas\" won 54 out of 60 seats in Congress, securing a decisive majority and solidifying its position as the country's leading political force. Over the years, President Bukele and his government have maintained a high level of popular support, largely due to the positive assessment of their results in the area of security."}, {"bbox": [97, 685, 1134, 952], "category": "Text", "text": "The allied political institutions of \"Nuevas Ideas\" (NI) in Parliament, the right-wing Partido de Concertación Nacional (PCN) and the Partido Demócrata Cristiano (PDC), secured only 2 and 1 seat respectively. Similarly, the opposition parties, Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (ARENA, right-wing) and VAMOS (center-right), each obtained just 2 and 1 congressmen. Most of the newly elected legislators are young and possess little experience in public administration, as well as limited political expertise. This highlights an urgent need to build new leadership, develop party cadres, and promote citizen voices to ensure effective governance and representation. The leftist Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) did not win any seats, marking the first time since the signing of the Peace Accords in 1992 that it will not be represented in this body. The right-wing Gran Alianza por la Unidad Nacional (GANA), the party with which Bukele reached the presidency in 2019, along with the center-right Nuestro Tiempo (NT), did not secure any deputies for the 2024-2027 period."}, {"bbox": [97, 974, 1134, 1240], "category": "Text", "text": "In the period from 2024 to 2027, only 19 out of 60 legislators are women, making up 31% of the legislative body. Among these, 17 are from Nuevas Ideas, one from the opposition ARENA, and one from VAMOS. Additionally, only eight out of 44 municipalities will be led by women, representing just 18% of female leadership in municipal councils at the national level. This low representation is due to structural barriers such as discrimination and a lack of parity mandates in electoral lists. To build more inclusive democratic processes, it is essential to promote women's participation actively. Despite some progress, violence against women remains a significant problem. While the rate of violent deaths has decreased, sexual violence and other forms of violence, such as cyber violence and symbolic violence, are still prevalent. Indigenous and LGBTIQ+ women face additional discrimination, underscoring the need for improved legislation and support services for victims. Promoting gender equality and ensuring diverse voices in political processes are crucial for a more inclusive and representative democracy."}, {"bbox": [97, 1252, 1134, 1451], "category": "Text", "text": "The recommendations of the EU-EOMs, in 2018 and 2019, and of the follow-up EU EOM in 2021 recommendations focused on strengthening electoral processes as a fundamental element to strengthen good governance and democracy. Some progress has been made in the implementation of the EU EOM recommendations, for example in the processes of counting, transmission and dissemination of results by strengthening the training of electoral staff and the incorporation of electoral technologies. Some recommendations were partially implemented through the adoption of effective measures for the political participation of women and LGBTI candidates, the disassociation of electoral personnel from partisan influence, the beginning of a debate"}, {"bbox": [86, 1500, 1144, 1548], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹⁶ See for example the index of Freedom House from 2018 to 2021 https://freedomhouse.org/country/el-salvador/freedom-world/2021"}, {"bbox": [86, 1548, 1144, 1647], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹⁷ According to the Latinobarómetro study, by 2018 El Salvador along with Guatemala had the lowest percentage of support for democracy in Latin America (28%); in the case of political parties only 5% of the citizenry expressed confidence in them; and, in relation to Congress, El Salvador was the country with the second lowest confidence index for this institution with 10%. (https://www.latinobarometro.org/latContents.jsp)"}, {"bbox": [1038, 1655, 1144, 1679], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 7 of 22"}]