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SHARE News 3/16/06

Preliminary March 14th election results: People wait days for elections results in San Salvador mayoral elections

March 12^th was Election Day in El Salvador, where people gathered to elect their municipal mayors, and deputies to the Legislative Assembly. Over 50% of the population came out to vote, which is more people than came out for the last legislative elections

Leading up to the elections, it is worth noting some general comments about the state of voter confidence. When asked in one study by the University of Central America (UCA), people voted the political parties with the lowest rating of confidence and gave the highest vote of confidence to the Catholic and Evangelical churches, followed by the media. There was general suspicion that election fraud would be a factor in the results. These observations would indicate a distrust and loss of faith in political parties. That said, 40.7% of the people said they were interested in voting in the upcoming elections, and even more came out.

There were a number of factors in the air also leading up to the elections that could have influenced election results. In a trip to Washington, DC just two weeks before the elections, President Tony Saca managed to secure another year of TPS (Temporary Protected Status) for a number of Salvadorans, Nicaraguans and Hondurans living in the US, and he managed to implement CAFTA (with promises that this would help the Salvadoran economy). Both of which were successes that poised to favor ARENA.

Election Day

On election day, people came out to vote. Each person had a piece of paper with the symbols and names of each political party and each person marked an X with a crayon on their chosen candidate and the voting officials colored each voter’s thumbprint with a permanent marker to indicate that he or she had voted. Tara Carr Lemke, SHARE’s DC Policy and Office Director served as an official election observer. She remarked, “I was surprised by the somewhat low levels of participation. There were not as many lines to vote as I remember from the presidential elections in 2004. It will be important to analyze why this was the case.” Indeed it will. Even though there was a slightly higher voter turnout than the last legislative elections, the numbers were around 20% lower than the turn out for the presidential elections (which had a turnout rate of over 70%).

Voting Results

Overall, ARENA gained more municipalities and deputy seats in this election than the last one. ARENA will now govern 146 municipalities, picking up municipalities from both the PCN and the FMLN. In the case of the FMLN, they lost 14 municipalities and will now govern only 60.

The race for deputies was as close as the San Salvador mayoral election, and the final numbers are still unknown. A report done by the UCA, Gallup and UTEC predicted that ARENA would earn between 30-35 deputies and that the FMLN would earn between 30-33 deputies. At this moment the FMLN has earned 32 deputies and ARENA has 34. It is possible in the end that they will both have 33. The PCN has 10 deputies (another party on the right), the PDC (center) has 6, and the CD (center-left) has 2. These numbers are important because both the FMLN and ARENA will have to make alliances if they are to push through legislation. Right now, ARENA will most likely be able to build alliances with the PCN to pass laws with a simple majority, but for those laws that require 2/3 of the votes for approval (such as the budget), they will be forced to negotiate with the FMLN.

One point of analysis worth noting at this time is the country's clear turn to the right, as ARENA clearly gained strength in this election.

At this point it is hard to analyze how the pre-election factors impacted the election results. This would require examining wins and losses on an individual basis, or conducting a post election poll.

Election results among SHARE’s partners

Two SHARE stories worth highlighting in this election campaign demonstrate the value of accompaniment and supporting women’s empowerment, leadership development and citizen participation. On the municipal level, the municipal council runs as a whole ticket. If the mayor of one party wins, the whole party wins. In Chalchuapa, the FMLN was re-elected to govern the municipality. One of SHARE’s partners, the Women’s Institute (IMU) has been training women leaders from different communities in Chalchuapa. These women return to their community and lead them in eight different discussions that encourage women’s empowerment and growth. Doris Gonzalez is one of these leaders. She was just elected to the municipal council in Chalchuapa.

In Aguilares, Osmín Salinas was just elected to the municipal council there. This province was previously governed by the PCN and will now be governed by the FMLN. Osmín is from the community of el Buen Pastor, which partners with Good Shepherd in Kansas. It is through the 18 years of accompaniment that Osmín has been able to grow as a leader in his community and in CRIPDES.

Stay tuned for 2009 when El Salvador will elect mayors, deputies and a new president.