Centro de Intercambio y Solidaridad Los Olivos CIS

The Election Observation Project

OBJECTIVE:

To contribute to strengthening transparency in the election process in El Salvador and to have an impact on an informed debate on electoral reforms.

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The Electoral Process Marches On

Parties worry about confusion with the new system of voting.

Leaders of the parties say that instructions should be reinforced to party militants that will be monitoring the votes as members of the JRVs and as vigilantes. They state that, although the process is new, with a good orientation campaign voters will understand the process; however the most complex task will be in scrutinising the vote and it is the job of the parties to correctly orientate their vigilantes. It is estimated that in the next elections vote counting may go on until the early hours of the morning.

Approximately ten thousand people may have legal problems in obtaining their DUIs.         

Between 5 and 7% of the population could have legal problems with their birth certificate, which is required to obtain the DUI, according to the president of the RNPN. The most common problems occur with misspelt names, or names which don’t match those on the birth certificate, and confusion with marital status, among other things. Additionally there remains the sector of the population that is not even properly registered (those that don’t have a birth certificate) which could be up to 600 thousand, according to the PGR. Not having a birth certificate denies that person access to the basic rights, “denying their identity denies them all other rights as recognised by the constitution”.

Unregulated individual advertising in the elections of 2012.

Deputies are saying that there is a legal loophole concerning the type of campaign that each candidate can run. The new way of voting, approved by Congress last week, allows the candidates for deputy positions to run individual advertising campaigns; however there is a lack of regulations stating in which way the candidates are able to promote themselves to the population or in which way their advertising can be funded. This is a point that some legislators still consider to be a large gap in the electoral legislation, and one to which they intend to dedicate themselves following the 2012 elections.

ACRONYMS

TSE– Tribunal Supremo Electoral (Supreme Electoral Tribunal)

DUI– Documento Único de Identidad (Unique Document of Identification)

RNPN– Registro Nacional de Personas Naturales (National Registry of Naturalized Persons)

PGR– Procuraduría General de la Republica. (National Attorney General)

JED– Junta Electoral Departamental (Departmental Election Board)

JEM– Junta Electoral Municipal (Municipal Election Board)

JRV– Junta Receptora de Votos. (Vote Receiving Table)

The Parties

The PE will enter into coalitions with the FMLN, CN, and GANA in the 2012 elections.

The PE hopes to enter into at least 17 coalitions for the municipal elections. The campaign leader of the PE declared that the party already has 17 solid pacts and although their relationship with the FMLN has not been a good one, at a local level they have managed to reach understandings.     In other news the PE has also begun its electoral campaign with a procession of cars and through handing out leaflets, so that people may get to know the new party. They have also presented their mayoral candidates for the municipalities of the Department of San Salvador, although they still have not named their candidate for the capital. They also presented their candidates for the deputy positions which promote the representation of youth and women.

The FMLN makes a pact with social organisations.

Some political parties have begun to establish the networks of public support that they believe will ensure them electoral victory and different organisations are accepting the call. In the case of the FMLN agreements are being signed with the Movimiento Civico Ciudadano (MCC), Fuerza Unida Salvadorena (Fuerza), the Movimiento Amigos por el Cambio (MAC), and the Unión Nacional de Salvadoreños en el exterior (UNE), among others, which have declared their support for the platform of the FMLN. Either privately or as an organisation, this type of support can become a decisive factor in an electoral victory, as was the case in the 2009 elections in which a wide alliance with different organisations and sectors carried Funes to the presidency.

ARENA ‘ups the pace’ to register their candidates with the TSE.

Before the end of 2011 ARENA hopes to register their full roster of candidates for deputy positions; because of this they are pushing their candidates to speed themselves up in providing the documentation that needs to be processed. Some have declared that they have encountered obstacles in obtaining the documents. ARENA is also planning training for their candidates for mayors and deputies, and preparing strategic visits to the municipalities in which they see themselves as most likely to win.