British Ambassador David Lelliott met with President Nayib Boukre, who is up for re-election from 2024 to 2029. / @DavidLelliottUK
El Salvador’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom, David Lelliot, spoke with the Republic’s President Nayib Boucle on Thursday, as part of a series of talks the diplomat is holding with all presidential candidates in the run-up to the February 4 election. And it will start 30 days in advance with electronic voting from abroad.
Ambassador Lelliot made it clear that he does not support any particular candidate or political party.
“It was an honor to meet President Nayib Boukre and learn about his policies and priorities as part of a meeting with political parties and candidates,” he wrote on the social network. Lelliot reported that he intends to meet with presidential candidates from all parties to hear “their views” and ensure “the fairest and freest election possible.”
We have started talks with presidential candidates. As the British Embassy @UKinElSalvador, we do not support any particular candidate or political party. Its aim is to talk to all political parties, hear their views and deliver the fairest and freest elections possible.
David Lelliott
British Ambassador.
On September 13, the diplomat reported that he also met with Salvadoran Independence Party (PAIS) presidential candidates José Cardoza and Irma Sosa, and also heard about “their policies and priorities.”
The conference took place within the framework of the 2024 general elections, in which the Salvadoran people elected 622 people to popularly elected positions, including the president and vice president, 60 members of the Legislative Assembly, and 20 members of the Central American Congress (Paracen). They will be able to elect officials. , and the mayors and other members of 44 city councils.
Bukele is participating in the elections as the only presidential candidate for his Nuevas Ideas party, which has until October 26 to apply to the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) for registration. It is unclear whether candidates will register on September 15, exactly one year after announcing their decision to seek re-election to the current term.
The immediate presidential re-election remains a subject of debate among Salvadoran legal scholars. Although the groups have assured that at least six articles of the Republic’s constitution bar the current president from re-election, supporters of the current government have announced that the newly elected Constitutional Council will be elected on September 3, 2021. claims that the resolution he signed allows for immediate re-election. These organizations question the legitimacy of the chamber’s elections, which were held on May 1, 2021, following the ouster of its predecessor.
Few diplomats have commented on the issue. After the Constitutional Council resolution, then-chargé d’affaires Jean Manes denounced the resolution allowing immediate re-election of the president and compared El Salvador’s path to Hugo Chávez’s Venezuela.
Lelliot has not commented on the issue. In May 2020, he told Salvadoran politicians that he believed that “we need an environment where everyone can contribute ideas and dialogue to solve problems,” and “change the tone of public discourse in El Salvador.” He simply asked them to “change it through insults and threats.”
Similarly, a day after El Salvador abstained from voting on a resolution calling for the withdrawal of Russian troops in Ukraine, he called on other Salvadoran ambassadors to “work together” to respect “Ukraine’s territory.” .
Source: Diario Elmundo
