In El Salvador, voters are heading to the ballots to vote in the upcoming presidential election during a state of emergency. The incumbent president Nayub Bukele is almost guaranteed a victory due to the immense change he’s brought upon El Salvador. Since his inauguration in 2019, the reduction in murder rates, gang violence, and crimes have decreased exponentially, but human rights advocates claim that his methods were inhumane. Nearly 70% of voters “approve his re-election bid”, but his re-elections draw concerns because presidents in El Salvador are limited to one term. Opponents of Bukele claim that his law-making changes make it difficult for other candidates to run for president and that his efforts for mail-in ballots primarily support him. With nearly 2% of all adults in jail or incarcerated, murder rates have dramatically fallen, but his tactics to achieve security and economic prosperity are seen as an attack against democracy.
In a democracy, the people select who they desire to rule them, so theoretically, his election should not be as contested as it is, since over half the population supports his re-election, with even Bukele changing his name on X to “World’s coolest dictator”. If the people like him so much, then there shouldn’t be such a strict limitation on the amount of terms he should run, right? Even so, history has shown the effects of unlimited power that rulers have, so having a set amount of terms that no leader can exceed should be mandatory in elections. The fact that Bukele has made efforts to secure victory in upcoming elections demonstrates his desire to continue ruling the country, with the support of the people, for as long as he can. Nevertheless, the change that he’s brought upon the country doesn’t go unnoticed. As one of the poorest, most crime-ridden countries in the world, he’s aided in bringing the country back to its feet and also clearing the streets of gang members and criminals. Something like that is appreciated by the Salvadorans, so their intense adoration for Buleke isn’t surprising. Seeing Bukele’s true intentions in government can only be seen in hindsight. As for now, he is set to lead the smallest country in Central America with his “mano dura” or “iron fist”.
Since we’ve delved into the different categorizations of conflict, we can predict how a conflict about this issue could be developed if there ever was one to occur. We could predict it to be a non-armed international conflict regarding the government liberation of a possible authoritarian regime. It would primarily be a conflict of interest because it would be over control of government and population and a local conflict since other countries aren’t involved. If the fighting begins as a result of rebel groups taking up arms, it could be seen as a defensive conflict where innocent civilians are merely protecting themselves from the harsh government that rules them. Unconventional warfare would primarily take up the means of conflict, more specifically with guerrilla wars and insurgencies since the people would likely be the aggressor, not trained militaries. Again, all of this is very unlikely to happen, but if conflict were to start, it could follow the aforementioned trends.