Bukele declares victory in El Salvador presidential election

Feb. 4 (UPI) -- Nayib Bukele of El Salvador's Great Alliance for National Unity Party declared victory in the country's presidential election Sunday.

The former mayor of San Salvador said he won with 54 percent of the vote Sunday.

"At this moment, we can announce with complete certainty that we have won the presidency of El Salvador," the 37-year-old told reporters.

"We made history."

Businessman Carlos Calleja of the conservative Nation Republican Alliance, Bukele's main competitor for the presidency, finished second with 32 percent. In third with 14 percent was former Foreign Minister Hugo Martinez of the ruling left-wing Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front.

Bukele's promise to form an anti-corruption commission may have helped him achieve victory, and in the process end two decades of leadership by the nation's two major parties.

"The other political Parties have done such a bad job that they don't deserve to win," Juan Canales told the Los Angeles Times. "People are poorer every day for the things they have done."

Three of El Salvador's last four presidents were investigated for embezzlement.

Bukele will assume the presidency for a five-year term on June 1.