‘World’s Coolest Dictator’ Nayib Bukele set for landslide election win in El Salvador for war on gangs

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, who has described himself as the “World’s Coolest Dictator”, has in less than five years transformed El Salvador from a country infamous for its record on murder and gangs to a nation with one of the lowest homicide rates in the Americas.

That record means he is all but certain to be re-elected in a presidential election on Sunday for another five-year term – despite a constitutional bar on immediate re-election, voter worries about the economy, and criticism of his draconian crackdown on civil and human rights.

Under him, more than 2 per cent of the adult population of the Central American country is behind bars and several constitutional rights have been shelved, prompting critics to call him a modern day autocrat.

But Salvadoreans weary of years of gang violence can live in ways unimaginable before.

Once barred from going to neighbourhoods controlled by rival gangs, residents can now freely move around. They can open businesses without paying crushing extortion fees. They can play with their children or sit with friends outside past sunset.