Chaos in El Salvador: they declare the preliminary scrutiny failed and will open the polls to count "vote by vote"

The recent presidential and legislative elections in El Salvador have faced scrutiny from the Supreme Electoral Tribunal. Nayib Bukele, who claimed victory in the elections, has not yet officially been declared the winner. The Tribunal will be opening a significant number of ballot boxes for both the presidential and legislative elections to conduct a thorough vote count. Despite congratulations from several world leaders, the official announcement is still pending. Only 70.25% of the minutes processed have been counted so far, with Bukele receiving a significant lead over his main rival, Manuel ‘El Chino’ Flores. The count for the legislative elections is even lower, with only 5.06% of the minutes being accounted for. The decision to open all the ballot boxes comes in response to complaints about the system for transmitting electoral results. The final count will begin on Tuesday, with digitized and transmitted records being accepted while manual records will be discarded. The Tribunal has cited inconveniences and difficulties in the transmission process for this decision. The disputed ballot boxes will be opened in the presence of various authorities and international observers. Anomalies have been reported, including duplicated results and system errors favoring the ruling party, New Ideas. Opposition groups have labeled the elections as fraudulent and rejected Bukele’s self-proclamation as the winner. They accuse the regime of illegally modifying the electoral system and violating legal provisions during the campaign.