General Elections in El Salvador 2024: what time do polling centers open and when do they close?

General elections will be held in El Salvador on 4 Februrary, 2024. In addition to the president and vice president, voters will elect the 60 deputies who will make up the Legislative Assembly.

According to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) of El Salvador, nearly six million citizens are registered to cast their right to vote in the nation. In addition, more than 739,000 El Salvadorans have a Unique Identity Document (DUI) abroad, which means that they can exercise their right to vote outside the country, online or in person.

On Election Day, polls will open at 7 a.m. and close at 5 p.m. local time

Who are the candidates?

Nayib Bukele has been serving as the President of El Salvador since 1 June, 2019. Before becoming president, he served as the mayor of San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador, from 2015 to 2018. The Bukele-appointed Supreme Court overturned a law that the president cannot be reelected, paving the for reelection.

His leadership of the Central American state has been characterised by mass incarcerations of suspected gang members. 2% of the adult population are in prison. This has played a part in the annual murder rate falling from 103 per 100,000, to 2.4 per 100,000. For context, the US national homicide rate is 6.3 per 100,000.

“Bukele is highly undemocratic, highly abusive – and highly popular. For some, it’s hard to accept that these three things can coexist,” said Juan Pappier, the Americas deputy director at Human Rights Watch. “But they do right now in El Salvador.”

The lack of a unified opposition means Bukele’s party will be able to insitute near one-party rule after overseeing electoral changes.

The other candidates are as follows.