{"id":18652,"date":"2024-03-01T15:47:43","date_gmt":"2024-03-01T20:47:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/?p=18652"},"modified":"2024-03-05T17:46:07","modified_gmt":"2024-03-05T22:46:07","slug":"senate-democrats-troubled-by-unconstitutional-moves-that-affected-el-salvador-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/senate-democrats-troubled-by-unconstitutional-moves-that-affected-el-salvador-election\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate Democrats troubled by \u2018unconstitutional moves\u2019 that affected El Salvador election"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/international\/4448950-senate-democrats-troubled-by-unconstitutional-moves-that-affected-el-salvador-election\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">La colina<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Senate Democrats on Monday congratulated Salvadoran voters for participating in their county\u2019s election but expressed concern about \u201cunconstitutional moves\u201d that they said \u201cstrongly influenced\u201d the election results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe congratulate the people of El Salvador and those in the Salvadoran diaspora who exercised their democratic right to vote over the weekend,\u201d Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/people\/ben-cardin\/\">Ben Cardin&nbsp;<\/a>(D-Md.), Senate Majority Whip&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/people\/dick-durbin\/\">dick durbin&nbsp;<\/a>(D-Ill.), Sen.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/people\/tim-kaine\/\">Tim Kaine&nbsp;<\/a>(D-Va.) and Sen.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/people\/jeff-merkley\/\">jeff merkley&nbsp;<\/a>(D-Ore.) wrote in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhile people exercised their right to vote, we are troubled by the unconstitutional moves that strongly influenced the outcome of Sunday\u2019s election and statements by the Vice President about \u2018eliminating\u2019 and \u2018replacing\u2019 democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, who had soaring approval ratings leading up to the election and no strong competition, apparently secured a second term by a wide margin, garnering 83 percent of the vote compared with his closest competitor\u2019s 7 percent,&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/international\/ap-el-salvadors-nayib-bukele-heads-for-reelection-as-president-buoyed-by-support-for-gang-crackdown\/\" target=\"_blank\">La Prensa Asociada<\/a>&nbsp;(AP) reported. He declared a historic margin of victory before even preliminary numbers were released Sunday evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Vote counting issues delayed election results, according to the AP. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal\u2019s preliminary results showed ballots from 31 percent of polling places had been counted by late Sunday, per the news wire, but that figure suddenly jumped to 70 percent Monday morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The electoral authority said there were \u201cmultiple actions that have hampered the development of the transmission activities of preliminary results,\u201d the AP reported, and noted the lack of paper used to print vote tallies at polling places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The authority called for a switch to a contingency process that included tallying votes by hand, the AP said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bukele\u2019s apparent reelection comes after he exercised special powers awarded to him under a state of emergency during his first term that gave rise to concerns about the rollback of democratic norms, but it also resulted in a drastic decrease in crime in a country that had faced a notorious gang violence problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bukele\u2019s government arrested more than 76,000 people, more than 1 percent of the country\u2019s population, under the state of emergency approved in March 2022, the AP reported. He made clear he expects the new Legislative Assembly to extend the state of emergency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe are not substituting democracy because El Salvador never had democracy,\u201d Bukele said, according to the AP. \u201cThis is the first time in history that El Salvador has democracy. And I\u2019m not saying it, the people say it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bukele\u2019s vice presidential running mate Felix Ulloa, meanwhile, told&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/02\/02\/world\/americas\/el-salvador-bukele-election.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Los New York Times<\/a>&nbsp;shortly before the election that they were \u201celiminating\u201d and \u201creplacing\u201d democracy. \u201cTo these people who say democracy is being dismantled, my answer is yes \u2014 we are not dismantling it, we are eliminating it, we are replacing it with something new,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In their statement, Senate Democrats acknowledged the reduction in gang violence but said they were concerned about the lack of oversight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhile we acknowledge the government\u2019s progress on combatting the violent crime that has plagued El Salvador for too long, we remain concerned about weakened transparency and oversight mechanisms and the rapid undermining of the rule of law and human rights protections,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe are committed to working with all our partners in the region to promote long-term stability and commitments to rights-based rule of law. We look forward to partnering with El Salvador to support its return to the constitutional order,\u201d the senators added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a statement, Secretary of State&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/people\/antony-blinken\/\">Antony Blinken&nbsp;<\/a>congratulated Bukele on his victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI congratulate&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/people\/nayib-bukele\/\">Nayib Bukele&nbsp;<\/a>on his electoral victory as President of El Salvador. The United States commends the work of electoral observers and looks forward to working with President-elect Bukele and Vice President-elect Felix Ulloa following their inauguration in June,\u201d Blinken wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe United States values our strong relationship with the people of El Salvador, forged over 160 years and built on shared values, regional ties, and family connections. Events in El Salvador have a direct impact on U.S. interests at home and abroad. Only by working together can we achieve our full potential and overcome the greatest obstacles in our hemisphere and globally. Looking ahead, the United States will continue to prioritize good governance, inclusive economic prosperity, fair trial guarantees, and human rights in El Salvador under our Root Causes Strategy,\u201d he continued.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Hill Senate Democrats on Monday congratulated Salvadoran voters for participating in their county\u2019s election but expressed concern about \u201cunconstitutional moves\u201d that they said \u201cstrongly influenced\u201d the election results. \u201cWe congratulate the people of El Salvador and those in the Salvadoran diaspora who exercised their democratic right to vote over the weekend,\u201d Senate Foreign Relations [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-in-the-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Senate Democrats troubled by \u2018unconstitutional moves\u2019 that affected El Salvador election - Merkley<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/senate-democrats-troubled-by-unconstitutional-moves-that-affected-el-salvador-election\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_MX\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Senate Democrats troubled by \u2018unconstitutional moves\u2019 that affected El Salvador election - Merkley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Hill Senate Democrats on Monday congratulated Salvadoran voters for participating in their county\u2019s election but expressed concern about \u201cunconstitutional moves\u201d that they said \u201cstrongly influenced\u201d the election results. \u201cWe congratulate the people of El Salvador and those in the Salvadoran diaspora who exercised their democratic right to vote over the weekend,\u201d Senate Foreign Relations [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/senate-democrats-troubled-by-unconstitutional-moves-that-affected-el-salvador-election\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Merkley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-03-01T20:47:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-03-05T22:46:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lauren Denham\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lauren Denham\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/senate-democrats-troubled-by-unconstitutional-moves-that-affected-el-salvador-election\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/senate-democrats-troubled-by-unconstitutional-moves-that-affected-el-salvador-election\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lauren Denham\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/person\/de92de2a17fa790d379e7caad8e6ae01\"},\"headline\":\"Senate Democrats troubled by \u2018unconstitutional moves\u2019 that affected El Salvador election\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-01T20:47:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-05T22:46:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/senate-democrats-troubled-by-unconstitutional-moves-that-affected-el-salvador-election\/\"},\"wordCount\":743,\"articleSection\":[\"In the News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"es-MX\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/senate-democrats-troubled-by-unconstitutional-moves-that-affected-el-salvador-election\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/senate-democrats-troubled-by-unconstitutional-moves-that-affected-el-salvador-election\/\",\"name\":\"Senate Democrats troubled by \u2018unconstitutional moves\u2019 that affected El Salvador election - Merkley\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-01T20:47:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-05T22:46:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/person\/de92de2a17fa790d379e7caad8e6ae01\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/senate-democrats-troubled-by-unconstitutional-moves-that-affected-el-salvador-election\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"es-MX\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/senate-democrats-troubled-by-unconstitutional-moves-that-affected-el-salvador-election\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/senate-democrats-troubled-by-unconstitutional-moves-that-affected-el-salvador-election\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Senate Democrats troubled by \u2018unconstitutional moves\u2019 that affected El Salvador election\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/\",\"name\":\"Merkley\",\"description\":\"Merkley\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"es-MX\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/person\/de92de2a17fa790d379e7caad8e6ae01\",\"name\":\"Lauren Denham\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"es-MX\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/25a4ee8e86f2359e4cde5aff12e7978900940e3e153b479f354e5fb6cb5c8013?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/25a4ee8e86f2359e4cde5aff12e7978900940e3e153b479f354e5fb6cb5c8013?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/25a4ee8e86f2359e4cde5aff12e7978900940e3e153b479f354e5fb6cb5c8013?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lauren Denham\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/author\/lauren-denham\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Senate Democrats troubled by \u2018unconstitutional moves\u2019 that affected El Salvador election - Merkley","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/senate-democrats-troubled-by-unconstitutional-moves-that-affected-el-salvador-election\/","og_locale":"es_MX","og_type":"article","og_title":"Senate Democrats troubled by \u2018unconstitutional moves\u2019 that affected El Salvador election - Merkley","og_description":"The Hill Senate Democrats on Monday congratulated Salvadoran voters for participating in their county\u2019s election but expressed concern about \u201cunconstitutional moves\u201d that they said \u201cstrongly influenced\u201d the election results. \u201cWe congratulate the people of El Salvador and those in the Salvadoran diaspora who exercised their democratic right to vote over the weekend,\u201d Senate Foreign Relations [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/senate-democrats-troubled-by-unconstitutional-moves-that-affected-el-salvador-election\/","og_site_name":"Merkley","article_published_time":"2024-03-01T20:47:43+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-03-05T22:46:07+00:00","author":"Lauren Denham","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lauren Denham","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/senate-democrats-troubled-by-unconstitutional-moves-that-affected-el-salvador-election\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/senate-democrats-troubled-by-unconstitutional-moves-that-affected-el-salvador-election\/"},"author":{"name":"Lauren Denham","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/person\/de92de2a17fa790d379e7caad8e6ae01"},"headline":"Senate Democrats troubled by \u2018unconstitutional moves\u2019 that affected El Salvador election","datePublished":"2024-03-01T20:47:43+00:00","dateModified":"2024-03-05T22:46:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/senate-democrats-troubled-by-unconstitutional-moves-that-affected-el-salvador-election\/"},"wordCount":743,"articleSection":["In the News"],"inLanguage":"es-MX"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/senate-democrats-troubled-by-unconstitutional-moves-that-affected-el-salvador-election\/","url":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/senate-democrats-troubled-by-unconstitutional-moves-that-affected-el-salvador-election\/","name":"Senate Democrats troubled by \u2018unconstitutional moves\u2019 that affected El Salvador election - Merkley","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-03-01T20:47:43+00:00","dateModified":"2024-03-05T22:46:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/person\/de92de2a17fa790d379e7caad8e6ae01"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/senate-democrats-troubled-by-unconstitutional-moves-that-affected-el-salvador-election\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"es-MX","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/senate-democrats-troubled-by-unconstitutional-moves-that-affected-el-salvador-election\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/senate-democrats-troubled-by-unconstitutional-moves-that-affected-el-salvador-election\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Senate Democrats troubled by \u2018unconstitutional moves\u2019 that affected El Salvador election"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/","name":"merkley","description":"merkley","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"es-MX"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/person\/de92de2a17fa790d379e7caad8e6ae01","name":"Lauren Denham","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"es-MX","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/25a4ee8e86f2359e4cde5aff12e7978900940e3e153b479f354e5fb6cb5c8013?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/25a4ee8e86f2359e4cde5aff12e7978900940e3e153b479f354e5fb6cb5c8013?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/25a4ee8e86f2359e4cde5aff12e7978900940e3e153b479f354e5fb6cb5c8013?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Lauren Denham"},"url":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/author\/lauren-denham\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18652"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18652\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18653,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18652\/revisions\/18653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}