Polls opened Sunday in El Salvador's presidential elections amid heavy security as voters look for change in a country beset by gang violence and widespread poverty. Nayib Bukele, the 37-year-old former mayor of San Salvador, is the frontrunner in a race that could upend the nearly three decade old grip of the country's two largest parties on Salvadoran politics.
Rigorous security was in place as polling stations opened at 7am (1300 GMT). Some 5.2 million people are elegible to vote at the more than 1,500 election centers. Some 23,000 police officers and 15,000 soldiers have been deployed to protect the sixth presidential election since democracy was restored in the country in 1992 after 12 years of bloody civil war between state security forces and leftist guerrillas.
Should Bukele, who represents the conservative Grand Alliance for National Unity (GANA) party, win it would put to an end three decades of domination by the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) and leftist Farabundo Marti Front for National Liberation (FMLN). His main challenge is expected to come from 42-year-old supermarket magnate Carlos Calleja, representing ARENA.
If he does win, though, he will have to form an alliance with the right, which dominates congress. He has promised to increase investment in education and fight corruption but his main task will be to implement new programs to confront insecurity. El Salvador is one of the most violent countries in the world with a murder rate of 51 per 100,000 citizens.
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