El Salvador has a
multi-party system. Two
political parties, the
Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) and the
Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), had traditionally dominated politics. ARENA candidates won four consecutive presidential elections until the election of
Mauricio Funes of the FMLN in March 2009. Geographically,
the departments of the Central region, especially the capital and the coastal regions, known as departamentos rojos, or red departments, are relatively Leftist. The departamentos azules, or blue departments in the east, western and highland regions are relatively conservative. In February 2021, El Salvador's
legislative election was an important breakthrough. The new party, founded by President
Nayib Bukele,
Nuevas Ideas, won around two-thirds of votes with its allies (GANA-New Ideas). His party won supermajority 56 seats in the 84-seat parliament. Bukele became the country’s most powerful leader in three decades. == Political parties ==