[Cispes-update] Tensions as Municipal and Legislative Campaigns Close in El Salvador

CISPES National Office cispes at cispes.org
Fri Jan 16 12:02:24 EST 2009


Tensions as Municipal and Legislative Campaigns Close in El Salvador

CISPES Electoral update

January 16, 2009

(Check out frequent updates about the January 18 elections! all day long at
www.cispes.org/09electionsblog)

 

Also in this update:

*	Honduran citizens found in voter registry <>  in San Isidro Cabañas
*	National Democratic Institute to <>  assist with “quick count” of
election results

 

Thursday, January 14, marked the end of the campaigns for legislative and
municipal offices in El Salvador.  The Electoral Code mandates that all
political parties cease their campaign activities three days before
Salvadorans cast their votes to elect the country’s 262 mayors and 84
legislative deputies. Election Day is this Sunday, January 18.

 

The capital city of San Salvador, site of a highly contested mayoral race,
has been the scene of much political violence in this electoral period. On
January 12, ARENA party activists threw rocks at San Salvador mayor Violeta
Menjivar and members of her contingent during a campaign stop along Alameda
Roosevelt, one of the city’s main streets. In the midst of the resulting
skirmish, Menjivar’s campaign procession came under gunfire. The attack
resulted in four people being hospitalized.


After the incident, Menjivar, who is campaigning for a second term as
executive of El Salvador’s largest city, called for a stop to the political
violence and asked international observers to condemn the attack. “These
people are armed and they are [ARENA candidate Norman] Quijano’s activists,”
Menjivar stated.  Menjivar’s campaign has submitted an official complaint to
the Attorney General’s office and is demanding a full investigation of the
incident. 


Honduran citizens found in voter registry in San Isidro Cabañas


On January 12, the mayoral candidates of four parties in the municipality of
San Isidro Cabañas presented a formal, joint complaint to the TSE after
discovering Honduran citizens listed in the town’s voter rolls. The
candidates for the FMLN, PDC, PCN, and CD parties met with TSE
representatives to present their evidence, and have also taken their case to
international observers from the Organization of American States.

The candidates suspect current San Isidro Cabañas Mayor José Ignacio
Bautista of enabling Hondurans to illegally gain access to the electoral
registry. TSE President Araujo responded to the complaint by stating that
the four candidates should not “abuse their freedom of speech” by making
such accusations.

Two days earlier, on Saturday, January 10, The National Civilian Police
arrested a Nicaraguan citizen in San Salvador while he was distributing a
bulletin entitled "La Prensa Evangélica," which was crafted to urge
Salvadoran readers not to vote for the FMLN.

Francisco Serrano, an ARENA supporter who is pastor of the Evangelical
Methodist Church in San Salvador has been accused of hiring the man. Such
actions would be a violation of Article 292 of El Salvador’s Electoral Code,
which states: "Immigrants are not allowed to participate directly or
indirectly in political activity.”


National Democratic Institute to assist with “quick count” of election
results


 

El Salvador’s 2009 elections have awakened the interest of the international
community, as the leftist FMLN party has the potential to win a greater
number of municipalities and legislative seats on January 18, and is poised
to win the presidency for the first time on March 15.  Among other
international organizations already in the country, the U.S.
government-affiliated National Democratic Institute (NDI) is working along
with the Public Opinion Institute of the University of Central America
(IUDOP) to observe this electoral process.

 

In December, El Salvador’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) signed an
agreement with IUDOP, which will observe some 2,000 voting tables around the
country on Election Day and carry out a “quick count” that will provide
preliminary election results. According to La Prensa Grafica, the quick
count will be carried out with the “technical cooperation” of the NDI. After
the polls close, IUDOP observers, who are students and employees of the UCA,
will monitor the vote count at the 2,000 polling tables, which have been
selected as a representative sample of nationwide voting. The results from
these 2,000 voting sites will be compiled and released publically soon after
the polls close.  

 

This is the first time that El Salvador will utilize a quick count system.
The TSE has implemented the initiative as a means of providing an accurate
estimation of election results before the official results are available,
raising concerns about the Tribunal’s ability to produce its own official
results in a timely manner. Similar programs were used in recent elections
in Guatemala and Nicaragua, also with assistance from the NDI. 

Despite increased use of the quick count program in Central America, the
NDI’s parent organization, the National Endowment for Democracy, has been
accused of attempts to destabilize democratically elected governments in
other countries in recent years, including Venezuela and Bolivia.

 

Meanwhile, the TSE has carried out three preliminary tests of its system for
transmitting some 10,000 official vote count documents via fax from the
voting centers to the institution’s election headquarters. All three tests
were marred by serious delays and other technical problems, raising doubts
about the TSE’s ability to produce official election results to the public
in a timely manner. According to Walter Araujo, President of the TSE and
representative of the right wing ARENA party, “the problems with the
transmission are technical” issues that can be resolved. 

 

However, many Salvadorans fear that lengthy delays in releasing official
results, accompanied by the TSE’s demonstrated lack of transparency, could
be a sign of behind the scenes fraud. These fears are amplified by the
experience of the 2006 mayoral race in San Salvador, which ended with FMLN
candidate Violeta Menjívar winning by only 44 votes after three days of
recounts and political maneuvering.

 

--------------

 

Don’t forget to check out CISPES’s elections day blog:
www.cispes.org/09electionsblog

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