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<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><font size=4
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-weight:bold'>FMLN
becomes largest force in El Salvador’s Legislative Assembly; ARENA claims
victory in capital city of San Salvador<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><i><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold;
font-style:italic'>Municipal and Legislative results set the stage for a
hard-fought presidential race leading up to March 15<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>CISPES Elections Update,
January 19, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>On January 18, Salvadorans went to the polls to elect 262 mayors, one
for every municipality in the country, as well as 84 deputies in the national
assembly. After a tense day of voting, both the leftist FMLN party and
the right-wing ARENA party celebrated victories, with the FMLN declaring itself
the largest political force in the country after winning the most seats in the
legislative assembly. Though results are still preliminary, it appears
that the FMLN has increased its number of legislative deputies by four or five,
while the right-wing ARENA party has either lost seats or stayed at the same
level. Such a victory would give the FMLN 37 or 38 seats in the Assembly
to ARENA’s 33 or 34, a significant change in the correlation of
forces. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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src="cid:image002.jpg@01C97A3A.C6172FF0" align=right hspace=12 v:shapes="_x0000_s1026"><![endif]><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman">On the other hand, ARENA claimed victory in the
capital city of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">San Salvador</st1:City></st1:place>,
though the Supreme Electoral Tribunal has yet to declare a winner, and the FMLN
has said that it must await more results. ARENA’s Norman Quijano
held a 2-3% lead with more than half the votes counted this morning.<o:p></o:p></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Despite
the tough reality of possibly losing <st1:City w:st="on">San Salvador</st1:City>,
the FMLN celebrated victories in three of the next four largest cities in <st1:country-region
w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region>: Soyapango, Santa Tecla, and <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Santa Ana</st1:place></st1:City>. The
latter is an especially important victory given that the current mayor, Orlando
Mena of the PDC party, had controlled the city for nine years. The FMLN
also won some key municipalities that it had previously not governed, including
La Union, Izalco, and Zacatecaluca, as well as winning most of the other
largest cities surrounding <st1:City w:st="on">San Salvador</st1:City>, such as
Mejicanos, Apopa, and <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">San Marcos</st1:place></st1:City>.
Overall, the FMLN will likely win between 80 and 90 municipalities, far more
than the 59 that the party currently controls.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>In the
Legislative Assembly, another possible change relates to the number of deputies
that will be designated to third parties. Following ARENA and the FMLN,
the centrist Christian Democratic (PDC) party appears poised to become the
third party in the Assembly with 7 seats, while the right-wing PCN party will
have around 5 seats. The center-left CD party will have one or two seats,
while the FDR party, a center-left split-off from the FMLN, failed to win a
single seat.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Meanwhile,
international observers are holding press conferences today and tomorrow to
announce their elections day observations. Many observers reported fraud
on January 18, though it’s unclear whether the accusations of foreigners
voting, people using false voting cards (DUIs), and vote buying, among other
things, were enough to shift the results of the municipal or legislative
elections.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Though
final results had not been released, ARENA mayoral candidate Norman Quijano
held a press conference late in the evening of January 18 to declare himself
the next mayor of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">San Salvador</st1:City></st1:place>.
ARENA has fought hard to win <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">San
Salvador</st1:place></st1:City> in recent years and carried out an extensive
smear campaign against current mayor Violeta Menjivar. Meanwhile, at a
gathering outside FMLN party headquarters, party leaders said they would respect
the results of the San Salvador elections but insisted on waiting until all the
votes were counted. Mauricio Funes, the FMLN’s candidate for the
presidency, rallied the crowd and reminded them that the biggest contest was
yet to come: the presidential elections on March 15 in which Funes holds a
double-digit lead in the polls.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> <img
width=336 height=437 id="_x0000_i1027" src="cid:image003.jpg@01C97A3A.C6172FF0"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-style:italic'>FMLN members celebrate victories on January 18<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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