[Cispes-update] Saca completes fourth year as president, FMLN Candidate extends lead to 21% in recent polls

CISPES National Office cispes at cispes.org
Wed Jun 4 15:21:52 EDT 2008


Saca completes fourth year as president, FMLN candidate extends lead to 21%
in recent polls

CISPES Update - June 4, 2008

(vaya aqui <http://www.cispes.org/index.php?lang=es>  para informe en
español)



Also in this update:

*	ARENA backs down from attempt to violate <>  agreement with OAS
*	Community resistance succeeds in <>  stopping construction of
landfill

 

On Sunday, June 1, Salvadoran President Elías Antonio Saca completed his
fourth year in office. In a speech before his cabinet members and
legislative deputies, Saca heralded his proudest achievements as president,
with an emphasis on populist, direct subsidy programs such as the
“Solidarity Network” and “Alliance for the Family.” This discussion of
Saca’s “successes” contrasts with the opinion of the vast majority of the
population, which, according to recent polling, believes its economic
situation to have deteriorated during Saca’s administration. 

 

According to the results of a poll conducted by the Public Opinion institute
of the Central American University (IUDOP), released on May 26, 63% of the
population believes that “ARENA [Saca’s party] should no longer govern the
country.” The poll also revealed that more than 80% of Salvadorans feel the
country has been put in a worse situation, both generally speaking and
specifically in economic terms, by the current government.

 

On the other hand, the opposition FMLN party (Farabundo Martí National
Liberation Front) is viewed by many as the only party capable of solving the
economic crisis faced by the majority of the population. 38% of respondents
believe the FMLN to be the party that can specifically fight against
corruption. 40% think the FMLN would be able to generate employment, and 47%
believe the party would be able to stop the increase in consumer prices.

 

Not surprisingly, given those results, FMLN presidential candidate Mauricio
Funes has stretched his lead over ARENA rival Rodrigo Avila to 15-20 points
in recent polls, just over 9 months ahead of the 2009 elections. The same
IUDOP poll gave Funes a 42%-26% lead over Avila, while a CID-Gallup poll
released a few days later had Funes up 21 points at 41% -20%. These numbers
may have been a contributing factor in ARENA ideology minister Rene
Figueroa’s decision to step down from his position on the governing board of
ARENA earlier this week.

 

Given the general discontent with the current ARENA government and
widespread rejection of its policies, President Saca has attempted to
improve the party’s image through an intensive publicity campaign that is
currently inundating print and broadcast media outlets throughout the
country. These expenditures come on the heels of Saca’s announcement of a
special Austerity Plan, which claims to limit spending by the president’s
office. 

 

The costs associated with Saca’s efforts to publicize his administration’s
policies “have risen to an average of 9 million dollars monthly, which adds
up to 108 million dollars for the year, and this has zero social benefit for
the population,” contested the FMLN’s legislative leader and
vice-presidential candidate, Salvador Sánchez Ceren.

 

In the face of this situation, the FMLN’s faction in the Legislative
Assembly has petitioned the President of the Comptroller’s Office, Hernán
Contreras – who is a member of the National Conciliation Party (PCN) – to
request that the budget granted for Saca’s office be revised. Contreras
promised to follow up on the FMLN’s petition.

 


ARENA backs down from attempt to violate agreement with OAS


 

Faced with the undeniable increase in support for the FMLN, the
deterioration of its own public image, and internal divisions related to its
presidential candidate Rodrigo Ávila, the ruling ARENA party continues
implementing measures aimed at enabling electoral fraud. In doing so, the
party recently attempted to violate an agreement between El Salvador’s
Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) and the Organization of American States
(OAS). After strong rebukes from opposition politicians and civic
organizations, ARENA backed down from these plans on May 28.

 

On March 4, 2007, TSE President Walter Araujo signed a Convention of
Technical Cooperation between the TSE and the OAS, which sought to
strengthen the integrity of the Electoral Registry, foment democratic
participation, and increase the transparency of the electoral process. Under
this agreement, the OAS was charged with the responsibility of establishing
and presenting an operation plan for reaching these goals, assigning
personnel, and hiring the contractors and consultants necessary for the
implementation of the project.

 

However, on May 22 of this year, by means of the 3-2 majority held by right
wing representatives on the tribunal, the TSE approved changes to the accord
that would limit the role of the OAS to that of an advisor in the electoral
process, therefore drastically reducing the institution’s ability to promote
transparency within the TSE and fairness in El Salvador’s elections.

 

Along with the FMLN, social organizations, including Citizen Action for
Democracy, denounced the unilateral decision and accused TSE President
Araujo, ARENA’s representative on the tribunal, of having violated the
agreement that had been made with the Secretary General of the OAS in March
2007. Norma Guevara, an electoral specialist with the FMLN, decried the
TSE’s decision to violate its own agreement with the OAS as a “lamentable,
shameful, scandalous act that still must be corrected.” 

 

In response to the criticism and pressure from social organizations and the
FMLN, TSE President Araujo, on May 28, announced that he had changed his
mind, stating that he will not implement the TSE-approved changes to limit
the role of the OAS. As a result, the OAS will continue in the role defined
by the March 2007 agreement. 

 


Community resistance succeeds in stopping construction of landfill


 

On the early morning of Tuesday, May 27, members of more than 20 communities
in the Cutumay Camones area of the Department of Santa Ana succeeded in
halting the construction of a landfill. This victory came after more than 6
months of organized, peaceful resistance to the government’s plan, which
threatened to contaminate local water sources.

 

The struggle in Cutumay Camones took the form of protest activities, which
were supported by neighboring communities and by social organizations that
are focused on defending access to water in El Salvador. The landfill
project appears to have been a political favor by Santa Ana Mayor Orlando
Mena. Mena’s Christian Democrat Party (PDC) is headed by Secretary General
Rodolfo Parker, who is the largest shareholder of PRESYS, the company that
had been contracted to construct the landfill.

 

According to Reina Chávez, a representative of the organized communities in
the area, there is an agreement with the company to remove the construction
equipment from the proposed site of the landfill, effectively canceling its
construction. “PRESYS has arrived at the conclusion that it will not be
possible to construct the poorly named ‘sanitary fill,’ which would have
directly affected the water that we consume,” explained Chávez. 

 

However, PRESYS’s marketing director, Dagoberto Fuentes, claimed that the
company is only waiting for El Salvador’s Ministry of the Environment and
Natural Resources (MARN) to carry out an evaluation before continuing with
the project. Fuentes insisted that “the opportunity to continue with the
construction of the landfill has not been thrown away.” MARN officials have
not made any public declarations related to this matter. 

 

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