During the week of March 10th to 18th, 2003 more than 100 people will participate in the CIS Election Observer Mission. The mission participants will observe the electoral process in the following municipalities: Cinquera in Cabañas; La Palma in Chalatenango; Cojutepeque, San Pedro Perulapán, San Rafael Cedros and Suchitoto in Cuscatlán; Comasagua, Puerto La Libertad, Quetzaltepeque, San José Villanueva, San Matías and Zaragoza in La Libertad; San Francisco Chinameca and San Pedro Masahuat in La Paz; Jocoaitique, Meanguera and Perquin in Morazán; San Miguel in San Miguel; Santa Ana in Santa Ana; Apopa, El Paisnal, Mejicanos, Nejapa and San Salvador in San Salvador as well as Estanzuelas, Mercedes Umaña and Puerto El Triunfo in Usulután.

The observers come from various regions and nations including: United States, Canada, Basque Country, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Among the observers will be delegations from Inter Religious Task Force in Cleveland, Veterans for Peace, Latin Amerikan Gruppen from Norway, Common Ground from British Columbia, Euskal Fondoa from Basque Country and the Casa de la Solidaridad, a network of students from Jesuit Universities.

The program for the observers will include visits with the embassies of each observer’s nation and with the Supreme Election Tribunal to obtain accreditation and to exchange points of view. They will visit social organizations in different municipalities in El Salvador to learn more about their history. The mission will also include exchanges to inform the participants about current topics such as the electoral situation, the privatization of health care and the Free Trade Agreements. The observer training will begin with a meeting with the Procudora de Derechos Humanos (Human Rights Ombudswoman), Dra. Beatrice de Carrillo. Participants will also attend a debate between candidates of the different political parties before visiting the electoral institutions of the municipalities where they will observe. The observers will be staying in the voting centers until the votes are counted. They will meet at the CIS to evaluate the results and the mission in general. On Tuesday, March 18th the mission will hold a press conference, which will conclude the International Election Observer Mission of 2003.

What are the principal objectives of the 2003 International Election Observer Mission? The goals include: to contribute towards free and fair elections, to work to create a safe environment which will encourage maximum citizen participation, to accompany grassroots organizing for social and economic justice and democratic participation, and to build people-to-people solidarity. The Observer Mission will give internationals an opportunity to deepen their understanding of the social and economic structures that govern El Salvador. It will further allow them to better understand the impact of these structures on the Salvadoran people.

Currently a team of seven American, Canadian and German volunteers, together with their Salvadoran coordinator, are preparing for the arrival of the observers. They are meeting with political parties and candidates, as well as with the electoral institutions such as the Supreme Electoral Tribunal and Junta de Vigilancia (Monitoring Committee) and the Human Rights Ombudswoman Beatrice de Carrillo. They are collecting as much information as possible about the ongoing electoral process. Each volunteer is responsible for setting up logistics in municipalities in at least one department. There he or she meets with the Departmental Electoral Committee and Municipal Electoral Committees to establish communication and the necessary groundwork to make the mission a success.

After the participants of the mission have left, the volunteer group will write the report about the observations. This summary will be given to the government of El Salvador, all the political parties, electoral institutions, and the foreign embassies in San Salvador.

If you are interested in participating in the mission, you can still sign up until February 28th or contact us at :cis_elsalvador@yahoo.com

2. “FLOATING VOTES” WILL IMPACT ELECTION RESULTS AND MAY ALLOW FOR NON-RESIDENTS IN A MUNICIPALITY OR A DEPARTMENT TO DETERMINE THE OUTCOME

"It's an irregularity that the law permits" responded Rodolfo Parker, president of the Partido Democrata Cristiana (PDC), when asked about the "floating votes" or people that vote in a municipality other than their own in order to influence the outcome of an election. Although many candidates and different political party officials denounce this practice nothing has been done to stop it. This ethically questionable trend is widespread and will most likely affect the outcome of the vote in several municipalities.

"From my perspective it's immoral, especially on the municipal level and it should be regulated." commented Colonel David Munguia Payés, President of the Partido Accion Popular (AP).

A voter simply petitions the Superior Elections Tribunal (TSE) for a change of voting location. The TSE later sends a telegram to inform the voter to pick up their voting card in the municipality where they had asked to vote.

"The practice originates on the municipal level," suggested Ruben Zamora of the Centro Democratico Unido (CDU), due to "mayors that do the math and start to pull people in from other municipalities. "

In the town of Turin, Department of Ahuachapán, home of the only mayor ship won by the Partido Accion Nacional (PAN), over three hundred people have been brought in from neighboring municipalities. In the elections of 2000 PAN won with 769 votes over ARENA with 602. Since then the mayor José Cristales has both switched his party affiliation to ARENA and gone searching for votes in near by municipalities. The voters "prefer to come vote here even if it's just for a notebook," revealed TSE delegate and candidate for the municipal board in Turin for ARENA, Adonay Cristales.

The problem is especially acute in the municipality of Cinquera, Cabañas. Of the 983 registered voters more than 250 are people coming from outside the community to vote. Considering the fact that the FMLN won the mayor ship in Cinquera by 34 votes over ARENA and that the total number of votes cast did not exceed 500, the increased number of "floating votes" puts the municipality in high risk to fall into the hands of a party without a real base in the community. Dozens of people from San Juan Opico, La Libertad, are expected to make the several hour journey to Cinquera to cast their votes. Dozens more from Ilobasco, Cabañas have also appeared on Cinquera's voting lists.

Cinquera is not the only municipality in Cabañas to see its voting lists grow by the hands of "outsiders". Guacotecti has almost doubled its voting size from a little over 2000 to over 4000 today. One reason besides the mayor ships themselves parties may be moving votes to Cabañas is the relatively low number of votes needed to obtain one of the three Legislative Deputies. In 2000 the Partido de Conciliacion Nacional (PCN) obtained the third deputy with less than 4,500 votes.

The floating votes "are not desirable but they are legal," stated Jorge Melendez, General Secretary of the Partido Social Democrata (PSD). Melendez considers that the implementation of the long awaited residential voting could help deter the practice of floating votes. "It's easier to pull off electoral trickery between people unknown to one another," he continued.

In Nuevo Cuscatlán, department of La Libertad, ARENA and AP have both been apparently pulling in voters from other municipalities. An assistant to the AP candidate for mayor Cristobal Montoya affirmed the practice and justified it as a response to the same actions by the ARENA candidate. "We couldn't just sit around with our arms crossed," as ARENA and their candidate Alfredo Rodriguez, "signed up 100 people," he declared. Rodriguez mentioned for his part that ARENA has not mobilized has many people as AP and that in his case only family and "work buddies" have been switched to vote in Nuevo Cuscatlán.

San Juan Opico has seen an exodus of voters signing up to vote in other municipalities. Over 1500 people from San Juan Opico are estimated to have asked the TSE for permission to vote in other municipalities. ARENA won the 2000 elections in San Juan Opico with an overwhelming 57% of the vote. That wide margin could theoretically give both ARENA the opportunity to move voters without the risk of losing the municipality as well as other parties as they may see the election in Opico as a lost cause.

Another way political parties have of moving votes into a given municipality is by choosing the personnel from other areas to work at the voting tables. Every major party has the right to assign up to four people for each voting booth in a given municipality (booth official, replacement, security and replacement). If a town has 50 voting booths 200 people could potentially be brought in to work the tables. Many elections could have their outcomes altered by those from outside the community.

TSE magistrate Julio Hernandez informed that a reform petition that would make the giving of false information to the TSE a crime was presented to the Legislative Assembly but that it had not been dealt with. Although many involved in the electoral process have known about the situation for a long time, only recently when there is no time left to change anything have people begun talking about it. Time will tell if changes will be made for future elections.

3. CIS OBSERVER MISSION MEETS WITH BEATRICE DE CARRILLO, HUMAN RIGHTS OMBUDSPERSON

The office of the Procudora de Derechos Humanos (PDDH) has been involved in important work for human rights. It has maintained an active oversight of the health care strike, prison uprisings, police brutality, and other issues. Although the PDDH is a government office, formed as part of the 1992 Peace Accords, the government of El Salvador and the ARENA party are trying to do away with this important institution. ARENA has carried out a constant war against the institution, since the first Human Rights Ombudsperson, Victoria Aviles, actually carried out her job and denounced human rights abuses. The second director of the institution, Piñate Polanco, was involved in many human rights abuses against his employees and later had to resign from the post. ARENA tried to block the appointment of anyone who would carry out the function of the office, and the office remained vacant for more than a year. ARENA was finally forced to accept the nomination of Dra. Beatrice de Carrillo, the current Procuradora (or Ombudswoman, in English) due to extensive international pressure. ARENA has continued to try to make the office ineffective, including cutting the budget by ½ and recently refusing a $US 500,000 donation for the institution from the Inter-American Development Bank (BID).

Recently, in a prison uprising caused by a police operation which destroyed prisoners’ belongings and arbitrarily moved prisoners, the Dra. Carrillo was called to the scene. In a tragic turn of events, two policemen were executed by prisoners over an hour before Dra. Carrillo arrived. Incredibly, the chief of police, Mauricio Sandoval, accused Dra Carrillo of being responsible for the executions! Dra. Carrillo’s intervention in fact prevented other policemen from being executed and she was able to quell the prison uprising. On top of that, when Dra. Carrillo entered the prison, police agents opened fire in the prison, barely missing Dra. Carrillo in what some interpret as an attempt against her life by government authorities.

The team of CIS staff and volunteers working to set up the International Election Observer Mission 2003 met with Dra. Beatrice de Carrillo and other members of the office of the PDDH on Wednesday, January 30th. The Mission established lines of communication and coordination with the PDDH office during the electoral process and on the day of the elections. The meeting with Dra. Carrillo was an active and engaging exchange of ideas and analysis about the elections and the current situation in El Salvador. Dra. de Carrillo and her staff within the PDDH are playing an important role in strengthening the electoral process in El Salvador. The office has a permanent discussion group with all of the political parties and has been working on an agreement for non-violence and respect during the campaign. The PDDH also has instituted a permanent “Right to the Truth Forum” to counteract misinformation spread in some of the communication media. The PDDH has also requested the platforms of each party because this office believes it is a right of each citizen to know before the elections the political positions of each party. Some political parties do not have a platform or program and simply use the media to make promises they will not be able to keep. They do not publish a concrete platform so they cannot be held accountable after the elections.

Dra. Carrillo pointed out the interest of those in power to maintain what is called the “hard vote” of each party, to maintain the appearance of democracy with two parties with similar percentages of the total vote, in this case ARENA and the FMLN. This does not, however, build real democracy or citizen’s participation. Less than 40% of the population turned out to vote in the last elections in 2000. Of those who turn out, many are turned away because their name is not on the electoral register or it is misspelled by one letter. One of the reasons there is such low turnout is that residential voting has never been implemented. People have to travel sometimes as far as 15 kilometers, take the day off work, and leave chores unattended in the home in order vote. Add this onto the many days one has to take off to get their voting card and it makes it almost impossible for the poor in rural areas to vote, especially women.

The general political tension and violence in the pre-electoral phase has increased to the levels of the 1994 and 1997 campaigns after relatively violence free campaigns in 1999 and 2000. Since the beginning of the campaign in January, one FMLN activist died after ARENA activists threw stones at an FMLN rally in Atiquizaya, Ahuachapán. An ARENA candidate for Mayor in Cuscatlán was found dead in unknown circumstances. Renovator Movement activists threw rotten eggs at an FMLN rally in Cojutepeque, breaking up the meeting. In addition to the direct electoral related tension, the government has accused health care workers on strike of being terrorists. A small group of activists calling themselves guerrillas recently burned a bus in Soyapango in protest of the government’s economic measures. The Procuradora said there are 3 kinds of violence being generated – first, because of the polarization in society, groups are becoming more radical; second, there are centers of power that are generating violence for political ends; and third, the common delinquency continues to rise due to the economic situation and lack of alternatives for youth. Dra. Carrillo believes that the presence of international observers will help curtail the violence in the days leading up to the elections. The National Civilian Police (PNC) have instituted an aggressive campaign against the delinquency which includes repressive measures which further threaten the population. The Procudora believes this will produce fear in the population and will further curtail voter turnout.

Dra. de Carrillo emphasized that democracy is not just the presence of elections and having a legalized opposition party. It also has to do with citizen participation, education, and a transparent process. The PDDH believes the following reforms are needed.

1. The depoliticization of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), which oversees the process, is appointed by political parties that get the most votes, making it a process plagued with party interests.

2. The residential voting reform needs to be implemented to facilitate voter participation.

3. There needs to be civic education so that people are making informed choices.

4. Salvadoran immigrants should have the right to vote, given their ongoing connection and sustenance of the Salvadoran economy.

5. A secret vote needs to be established. The voting booths are not private and people can easily look and see how people are voting.

Dra. de Carrillo pointed out the importance of electoral observation. According to her recommendation the most important role to make observation effective was first of all to have effective supervision – get into the voting place, listen to everyone, be clear about the process and purify the information observed from what is in the media. Secondly, the importance of the observer is to inform the world about what people see in El Salvador. There is a double morality – the government says there is a perfect democracy and economic development; the reality is that we are on the brink of a revolution from the civil society – not political parties – calling for health, life, and work.

4. CLIMATE OF TENSION AND POLARIZATION SURROUNDS ELECTIONS

Although the United Nations declared in mid-January 2003 that the 1992 Peace Accords had been successfully implemented, in the final months leading up to the 2003 legislative and municipal elections, El Salvador continues to struggle economically, politically and socially, creating a fragile and, at times, tense election atmosphere.

The medical worker’s strike, which began in September of 2002 over the issue of privatizing the Social Security System (ISSS), continues into its fifth month with no resolution in sight. In the last several weeks, many of the medical workers have returned to work under threat of being labeled a ‘terrorist’ and fired. Also, the increased presence of police in hospitals and medical clinics has added further pressure. The on-going strike has served to focus the public’s attention on the issue of privatization and, by extension, the overall state of the economy, leading many people to question the government’s broader economic and social policies. Encouraged by the medical strike, social activism in the country has steadily increased over the last few months. At the same time, gang-related violence and intra-family violence have been capturing more headlines, further fostering a growing sense of unease in the country.

These current difficulties and complexities in Salvadoran society are reflected in the political arena. This year, there are 11 political parties vying for 84 legislative seats and control of El Salvador’s 262 municipalities. This is more parties than in any other election since the Peace Accords were signed. In addition to the traditional left (FMLN) and right (ARENA, PCN) political parties, several new “center-focused” parties have emerged (CDU, PPR, MR) in response to the growing social problems. These center-focused parties are hoping to win votes and support by filling the large ideological gap that separates the Left from the Right. Several of these parties were created by former members of the larger traditional parties. This factor combined with the large number of parties makes for an election cycle of intense competition.

Against this dynamic social and political backdrop, the 2003 election campaign officially began on January 5. Before two weeks had passed, the violence began in a confrontation in La Libertad between activists of the FMLN and Movimiento Renovador (MR) parties when they clashed during a political rally resulting in injures to one activist in each party. Each side blamed the other for initiating the violence. A week later, on January 21 an FMLN activist died in the department of Ahuachapán after being struck in the head with a stone by an ARENA activist during an FMLN rally. The following day, the National Police announced that they would re-enforce the security provided to the political parties during campaign activities in accordance with the wishes of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE). In a further step to prevent future campaign violence, the TSE announced, on January 23rd, the creation of the “pacto de caballeros” or “Gentlemen’s Agreement”. The Agreement, which each of the political party signed during the few days following the announcement, was an agreement to stop the campaign violence. The Agreement consisted of four main points:

1. Take preventative measures and use better coordination to avoid confrontations between groups of opposing parties and provide instruction to party members on ways to conduct campaigns based on tolerance and respect.

2. Create a law to fortify the State of Law, recognizing the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, (TSE), as the maximum authority in electoral matters.

3. Provide further clarity on the various party platforms in a way that increases voter confidence and participation.

4. Pledge to collaborate with the TSE so that future elections can be held in a climate of Harmony.

Since the signing of the Agreement and increase in police presence, two additional acts of violence have been reported in the press. On January 28th, the body of an ARENA candidate was discovered in Cuscatlán. According to the latest police information, he had been shot twice in the head, but there is no information regarding by whom or why he was shot. The second incident occurred in the area of Jiquilisco, when a grenade explosion injured four FMLN activists several hours after a rally. The source of the grenade is still in question; some witnesses claim that it belonged to the four men while others say it was thrown at them.

Despite these additional acts of violence following the signing of the Agreement, the sense among several of the parties and candidates is that the level of violence has decreased coming into the mid-way point of the campaign. However, by all accounts, the 2003 campaign has been marked by higher levels of tension and violence then the campaigns in 1999 and 2000. Further, the political parties, candidates and members of the electoral commissions that the CIS has interviewed in the preparatory stages of the Observer Mission, believe that El Salvador is continuing down the slow and sometimes painful road towards democracy.

Additionally, the political parties and electoral institution have expressed very clearly that they believe the presence of international observers during the election process is critical in assuring the credibility of the elections, thereby reducing the fears of fraud and corruption that could cause further unrest and possible violence.

[ home ]

[ history & mission ]

[ action alerts ]

[ human rights network ]

[ election observers ]

[ monthly bulletin ]

[ archive ]

[ delegations & brigades ]

[ integrated development ]

[ language school ]

[ solidarity crafts ]

[ volunteers ]

[ links ]

February 2003 - Special CIS Election Bulletin

4. CLIMATE OF TENSION AND POLARIZATION SURROUNDS ELECTIONS