America

El Salvador reduces the number of municipalities from 262 to 44

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Eight months before the presidential and legislative elections in El Salvador, Congress, with 66 votes out of 84, changed the administrative political division of the Central American country, reducing the number of municipalities from 262 to 44. A measure that adds to the reduction in the number of legislators approved last week.

Those that until June 13 were considered municipalities will become districts. For example, the districts of Santa Tecla and Comasagua, in the department of La Libertad, will become a single municipality named La Libertad Sur, proposed by the Executive of Nayib Bukele. The same happens with the rest of the districts.

If you want to know which municipality the district you are interested in will belong to, write the name in the magnifying glass located at the top of the map.

According to the government, reducing the number of municipalities also reduces the costs of maintaining 262 municipal councils.

“The main objective of the Special Law for Municipal Restructuring is to reorganize the territory and for the country to function better. (…) The opposition is afraid of the new and that keeps them nervous. We are taking away their power and we have given it to the people”, justified the president of the Congress, Ernesto Castro, in the plenary session on June 13.

A position that was joined by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, who was the initiative to reform the Electoral Code with these changes.

However, some legislators who were present at the plenary session affirm that it is a political strategy to concentrate power.

“It is easier to bet on (controlling) 44 people than on 262 in the whole country,” said Rosa Romero, a lawmaker from the right-wing ARENA party.

Similarly, the representative of the Vamos Party, Claudia Ortiz, sees it unfeasible for the country to now have more representatives than mayors “when the logic is that the mayors are closer to the people,” she explained.

“It is the same Municipal Code that says that the number of municipalities is determined based on data from the last census. It is malicious to use data from a census from 16 years ago for these changes,” added the legislator.

Before the reform, the political distribution of the country looked like this. El Salvador had 262 municipalities distributed in 14 departments. The number of apartments has not changed.

Before the reform to the Electoral Code, the map of El Salvador consisted of 262 municipalities.  Photography Voice of America.

Before the reform to the Electoral Code, the map of El Salvador consisted of 262 municipalities. Photography Voice of America.

In recent days, the Salvadoran Congress has managed to reform the Electoral Code eight months before the elections. This would not have been possible a few months ago, since the Code itself establishes a period of more than one year to make changes before holding elections.

In March, the deputies repealed an article of the Electoral Code that has allowed them to make these changes. The Central American country must now adapt the reforms to the electoral process that will take place in February 2024.

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