John Kerry congratulates Salvador Sánchez Cerén

by CISPES

This morning, US Secretary of State John Kerry congratulated Salvador Sánchez Cerén for his election as president of El Salvador [full text after the jump].  The international solidarity community celebrates this important recognition of the decision made by Salvadoran voters at the polls on March 9th in elections the Organization of American States and the United Nations have applauded as highly transparent and fair. The US Embassy in El Salvador reiterated Kerry’s congratulations in a statement published on Twitter.

TSE Rejects ARENA’s Last Appeals, Announces Closure of Electoral Process

TSE Magistrates announced their decision Monday night

by CISPES

On the evening of Monday, March 24, El Salvador’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) officially closed the books on the 2014 presidential elections, announcing its dismissal of the last of ARENA’s appeals and declaring the results firm and final.

Mass Media a Key Ally In ARENA Destabilization Campaign

by CISPES

In the wake of El Salvador’s tight March 9^th Presidential elections, the country’s national commercial media, always notoriously conservative, have become active agents in spreading confusion and misinformation generated by the ARENA party in its quest to undermine El Salvador’s democratic institutions. The media’s complicity in ARENA’s campaign to contest the election results and generate political instability have drawn sharp criticism from across Salvadoran civil and political society.

TSE Formally Announces Sánchez Cerén As El Salvador’s President-Elect; ARENA Will Continue To Contest Results

by CISPES

On Sunday March 16^th, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) formally announced that FMLN candidate Salvador Sánchez Cerén is El Salvador’s new president-elect. Although the final review of the elections results finished on March 12^th, giving the FMLN the win 50.11% to 49.89%, the TSE was first obliged to respond to a series of formal petitions filed by the ARENA party calling to annul the elections before officially declaring a winner.

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.

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.

Special Report: ARENA Mobilizes Against TSE

With the FMLN party maintaining what the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) has called an “irreversible,” if narrow, lead in the final vote count for El Salvador’s March 9^th presidential election, the opposition ARENA party has turned to destabilization tactics, fomenting unrest and misinformation in an effort to contest the election results. On the night of Monday, March 10^th, ARENA sent out a massive call on social media to mobilize its militancy for a demonstration the following morning against the TSE. Claiming themselves the victims of a massive electoral conspiracy, ARENA called on its militancy to denounce the TSE’s process as corrupt and demand a vote-by-vote recount.

Upside Down World: In the Face of an Expected Election Defeat, El Salvador’s Right-wing ARENA Party ‘Prepared for War’

Check out an excellent article about Sunday’s elections on Upside Down World by CISPES Executive Director Alexis Stoumbelis.  You can read the original post on UDW here.  A copy of the article is available after the jump.

Democracy Now! CISPES Report on tense results of March 9 presidential election

From Democracy Now! http://www.democracynow.org/2014/3/10/leftist_ex_rebel_holds_narrow_lead

Both candidates have claimed victory in El Salvador’s presidential election after a preliminary count showed the vote was too close to call. The race pitted the governing party’s Salvador Sánchez Cerén against the right-wing candidate Norman Quijano. Sánchez Cerén, a former rebel commander, was running to replace Mauricio Funes, marking the first time an FMLN candidate succeeds another after decades of right-wing governments. Sánchez Cerén was seen as the favorite coming in but the latest results show him ahead less than 1 percent. We go to El Salvador to speak with Laura Embree-Lowry of CISPES, the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador.

ARENA prematurely declares victory to influence perception of final results

Members of ARENA’s executive committee just held a press conference declaring victory. When the press conference was held, 77.16% of voting tables were reporting, and the FMLN lead over ARENA, but only by 0.16%. According to the Director of El Faro, Carlos Dada, “It is very irresponsible for a political party to declare victory at this point.”

The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) held a press conference about an hour ago, in which they said no tendency had yet been established, and called on the Salvadoran people and political parties to remain calm and await the final results.

This has raised concerns that ARENA will not respect the final results as announced by the TSE.