Amidst the turmoil of protests in Venezuela and a rise in drug-related violence along Central America, El Salvador prepares to elect a new president. Elections have been contentious, pitching different ideals to the people. However, it is projected that the left-wing candidate will win.

Salvador Sánchez Cerén, 69, is the candidate for the leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN). A former rebel leader during the country's civil war, Sánchez Cerén has run on a platform that favors government programs for the poor, among other reforms. If elected, El Salvador will continue to have a leftist government, according to Reuters.

On the other hand, the opposition candidate calls forth Cold War phantoms and claims that the leftist party will take the country down the path of communism, according to Al Jazeera. But the people are not worried about the specter of communism. USA Today reports that the rise in gang violence and drug trafficking have been at the core of the election, and, with a third of the country in poverty, the people are fond of the government programs and proposed reforms by the FMNL candidate.

In 2009, the country elected Mauricio Funes as the first FMLN president. Under his leadership, Reuters reports, the government has enacted programs that provide each child with a glass of milk and free school uniforms and supplies.

El Salvador is home to one of the most brutal gangs, Mara Salvatrucha, also known as the MS-13. Their networks extend all the way into the United States and have been called a transnational criminal organization by the U.S. Treasury. According to USA Today, the U.S. government has been providing aid to various Central American governments, including El Salvador, and will continue to do regardless of the government's political beliefs.