Pro-Bitcoiner Nayib Bukele is widely expected to run for a second term as El Salvador’s president after new exit poll data indicates his party has won 87% of the votes.
Bukele, who leads the “Nueva (New) Ideas” party, reposted an X post from CID Gallup on Feb. 5, showing him his party holding 87% of votes, while his closest competitors Manuel Flores and Joel Sanchez hold 7% and 4% of the votes, respectively. Should the official results show a similar lead, he would serve as president until 2029.
In an X post, Bukele said his own party’s data shows he has won the election with more than 85% of the votes and a minimum of 58 out of 60 deputies in the assembly.
A spokesman for the country’s National Bitcoin Office told Cointelegraph they expect an even higher proportion of votes going to Bukele once the official results are out.
Nayib Bukele has made a name for himself as a supporter of Bitcoin in addition to his brutal crackdown on gang crime ravaging the country. Only seven years ago, El Salvador recorded the highest homicide rate in the world.
Last week, Vice President Félix Ulloa reportedly confirmed Bukele’s Bitcoin strategy wouldn’t change if he were elected, according to a Reuters report on Feb. 1.
Bukele was the mastermind behind making Bitcoin adoption during his first term, making the cryptocurrency legal tender in the country in September 2021.
He has also supported several Bitcoin-based projects in the country, such as the Volcano Bond, which received regulatory approval. by El Salvador’s Digital Assets Commission in December.
It is expected to launch before April, according to the country’s National Bitcoin Office.
El Salvador is also building a tax-free Bitcoin City and issuing passports to investors who contribute the equivalent of $1 million in Bitcoin.
Bukele’s campaign toward a second term didn’t come without controversy, though.
Several critics, such as Salvadoran lawyer Alfonso Fajardo, have argued the country’s constitution prohibits Bukele from seeking a second consecutive term.
“Today is a good day to remember that immediate presidential re-election is prohibited up to 7 times by the Constitution,” Fajardo said when news broke that Bukele filed paperwork to run again in October.
El Salvador has been touted as potentially becoming the “Singapore of the Americas” by Vaneck strategy adviser Gabor Gurbacs, who expects more investment capital and immigration to flow into the country in the coming years.
