Weekly Report - 30 July 2026 (WR-26-30)

El Salvador’s principal opposition parties chose presidential candidates on 26 July to stand against President Nayib Bukele in February next year. The right-wing Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (Arena) and left-wing Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN), which between them held a stranglehold on power for three decades before being consigned to the political margins by Bukele in 2019, held closed party primaries on 26 July to confirm their tickets. They are hoping to upset the odds by defeating Bukele, who was confirmed as the candidate of his personalist party Nuevas Ideas earlier this month [WR-26-28].