El Salvador’s Bukele wins supermajority in Congress after painstaking vote count

By MARCOS ALEMÁN and MEGAN JANETSKY
Associated Press

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — El Salvador President Nayib Bukele and his New Ideas party have won the supermajority the leader needs in Congress to govern as he pleases. Electoral officials announced the results Monday after a painstaking vote counting process, which has raised the hackles of electoral watchdogs and the country’s weak opposition, who cite irregularities. Bukele overwhelmingly won reelection Feb. 4, but what had remained up in the air was whether his New Ideas party would be equally as successful in legislative elections. On Monday, officials announced that New Ideas won 54 seats of the 60 congressional seats. Allied parties won an additional three seats.