VOTERS in El Salvador on Sunday appeared to give Nayib Bukele a second term as president, putting him well on his way to a landslide victory.

The Supreme Electoral Tribunal said late on Sunday that with ballots from 31 per cent of polling places tallied, Mr Bukele had 83 per cent of the vote, far ahead of his nearest competitor’s 7 per cent for the left-wing Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front. 

In a victory speech from the balcony of the National Palace, Mr Bukele said that the country had made history and “have given the example to the entire world that any problem can be solved if there is the will to do it.”

The victory comes despite concerns that Mr Bukele’s government has slowly chipped away at checks and balances in his first term and accusations that he dodged a constitutional ban on re-election.

He told reporters: “We are not substituting democracy, because El Salvador never had democracy.”

Under a “state of emergency” approved in March 2022, the government has arrested more than 76,000 people and the assault on the gangs has sparked accusations of widespread human rights abuses and a lack of due process.