Tag: National Alliance (Spain)

The businessman and former mayor's path to the presidency was circuitous, marked with struggles to find a political party -- which may ultimately have proven a good omen, as polls suggest that Bukele's supporters were dissatisfied with the country's traditional political parties. However, he ended up running for president with the conservative Great Alliance for National Unity (GANA) party. "Bukele's considered a populist, an outsider candidate who ran against the system. He says that he comes from the left, but he had to join a political party of the right to run." He has also been a fierce critic of past presidents, with campaign slogans such as "There's enough money when nobody steals" and "Return what was stolen," referring to the alleged disappearance of funds during the administrations of former Presidents Francisco Flores and Antonio Saca. After Bukele became mayor, the political relationship between him and his party began to deteriorate. The next month, the FMLN expelled Bukele, citing Marchelli's allegations and accusing Bukele of promoting divisions within the party. Bukele took to Facebook Live to announce that he would start a new political party called "New Ideas," but it turned out to be a short-lived venture. Struggling to accredit the nascent party with the Supreme Electoral Tribunal while presidential elections loomed, Bukele abandoned New Ideas and joined an existing party called Democratic Change. Just six months before the elections, Bukele finally found GANA, a party that could last all the way to the presidency.