That’s All, Folks!

With the TSE officiating the close of El Salvador’s 2014 presidential elections and the US government joining the rest of the international community to recognize the results and congratulate President-elect Salvador Sánchez Cerén, we feel that now is the appropriate time to bring this blog to a close.

CISPES, US-El Salvador Sister Cities and the SHARE Foundation would like to thank the thousands of readers who have followed this blog throughout the course of these exciting and historic elections. We also thank all those who have contributed content.

Although this blog is closing, we will continue to generate news, analysis and calls for action on our organization’s individual pages. We encourage you to continue keep up with news and solidarity actions around El Salvador in this critical new era for the nation’s growing democracy—the need for international solidarity is now as great as ever!

CISPES: http://www.cispes.org/

 

US-El Salvador Sister Cities: http://www.elsalvadorsolidarity.org/

 

          The SHARE Foundation: http://www.share-elsalvador.org/

 

You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter via the links on the columns to the right.

Thanks, and ¡adelante!

Armed Forces reject ARENA’s call to intervene in elections

Minister of Defense at press conference to announce that Armed Forces will respect election outcome

On Wednesday March 12, 2014, David Mungía Payes, Minister of Defense, announced at a press conference that the Salvadoran armed forces would respect the outcome of the elections, refuting claims made by ARENA presidential hopeful Norman Quijano that the army was prepared to act to intervene in what ARENA claims are fraudulent elections.

Jesuit University of Central America responds to ARENA’s destabilization attempts

By CISPES

(Read the original in Spanish here)

The University of Central America (UCA), after bearing witness to the electoral process, learning of the ARENA party’s position, analyzing the current electoral legislation and closely following the actions of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, and after hearing and evaluating the reports from various national and international electoral observer missions, makes the following declaration:

1)     We are deeply concerned by the actions of the ARENA leadership, who have recklessly and irresponsibly adopted a confrontational position and attitude. Their rhetoric shows disrespect for the legitimate role of the Armed Forces and goes against the spirit of the Peace Accords, and is an attitude that threatens the stability and institutional authority of the country.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls on international community to support elections results

Message of the Government of El Salvador to the International Community:

In response to the events that transpired in the country after the runoff Presidential Elections for 2014-2019, particularly the questioning of the transparency of the process and the authority of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, the government of El Salvador, via its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, declares the following:

Results are in: FMLN wins presidential elections

by CISPES

Last night, shortly after midnight, El Salvador’s electoral authority, the Supreme

TSE’s final results (Image: Tribunal Supremo Electoral)

Electoral Tribunal (TSE), finished the final count of the original vote tally sheets from each of the country’s 10,445 voting tables. The process was delayed by the right-wing ARENA party, whose representatives abandoned the counting tables on multiple occasions throughout the evening. In the name of stability and the public’s right to the results, the TSE ultimately decided continue the count with or without ARENA’s presence. The final results came in with 1,495,815 votes for FMLN candidate Salvador Sánchez Cerén and 1,489,451 votes for ARENA candidate Norman Quijano, a difference of 6,364 votes, or 0.22%, in favor of the FMLN.

United Nations calls on all parties to respect the vote count

The United Nations System in El Salvador, at the conclusion of the second round of presidential elections on Sunday, March 9, 2014:

Congratulates the Salvadoran population for exercising their right to elect their highest authorities, in a collective, civic and peaceful manner. This overwhelming participation, which exceeded 60 % of the electoral register, shows the firm intention of the Salvadoran people to strengthen its democratic system and deepen the political and institutional progress made since the signing of the Peace Accords.

International Observers Attest to Robust and Transparent Democratic Process

Representatives of the CISPES and SHARE observer missions report to the press

On Tuesday, observers from CISPES and the SHARE Foundation held a press conference for the Salvadoran media to share their observations and evaluation of Sunday’s election, in which a record number of Salvadorans participated to elect their next president. Voter turnout was over 60% and, according the preliminary results, the winning candidate, Salvador Sanchez Ceren, received the highest number of votes of any candidate in the country’s history (over 1.4 million).

Observer Report from U.S.-El Salvador Sister Cities

by U.S.-El Salvador Sister Cities

The following information is a compilation of Salvadoran news reports and observations from our allied organizations:

On Tuesday March 11th,  the Supreme Electoral Tribunal began a process of revising the 21 forms that could not be counted in the Tribunal’s preliminary results, which showed the FMLN ahead of ARENA by 6, 634 votes (50.11% vs. 49.89%).

TSE Magistrate Receiving Death Threats

by CISPES

This morning, Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) magistrate Walter Araujo announced on Twitter that he was receiving death threats and would hold ARENA accountable for any physical attack against him. Araujo is a former member of ARENA who left the party in September 2013.

Translation: “As of this moment I hold the ARENA party accountable for any physical attacks against me, I am receiving threats and intimidating statements!!”

 

OAS, other international delegations affirm fair electoral process

by CISPES

Various international observation delegations reported yesterday on the “strong and balanced civic and electoral organization” of El Salvador’s March 9th election. Among the delegates was the former president of Ecuador’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal, who stated, “We haven’t seen anything close to the possibility of fraud.”

In another press conference, observers from the Organization of American States (OAS) expressed their satisfaction with “the tranquility with which the elections were carried out.”

Several observers, including the President of the Bolivian Senate, also condemned right-wing ARENA candidate Norman Quijano’s inflammatory statements on Sunday – particularly his call to the armed forces – as an incitement to violence and “disrespect for democracy.”

The only dissenting voice came from the observation delegation of the International Democrat Union (IDU), a global alliance of over 80 conservative political parties founded by George Bush Sr. in 1983. The IDU cited cases of apparent irregularities and highlighted “the serious questions raised by ARENA” around the electoral process. ARENA is a dues-paying member of the IDU, whose website explicitly states that members will “assist each other to win the political argument, and to win elections.”