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.

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.

Amid high demand for voter ID renewals, ARENA claims “technical fraud”

Posted by CISPES

News outlets have been reporting that the voter ID registration centers were flooded with applicants seeking to replace or renew their ID cards over the past few days. After the February 2 election, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) announced that there were over 500,000 people on the 2014 voter registry whose ID card (known as a DUI) had expired and hence would be unable to vote until they were renewed.

The Right Continues Attempts to Undermine TSE

Right-wing protesters outside of the TSE (Photo: La Prensa Grafica)

by CISPES

Attacks attempting to discredit El Salvador’s electoral authority, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), have increased in recent weeks.  Most recently, lawsuits have been filed with the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court that question the constitutionality of TSE magistrates Eugenio Chicas and Walter Araujo. In addition to the Supreme Court cases, ARENA activists have staged a series of protests outside the TSE and submitted a formal complaint against the TSE to the Attorney General’s Office for an unrelated issue earlier in the month.  Considering that the official Organization of American States (OAS) observer mission as well as international observer missions invited by civil society groups and even the U.S. Embassy have highlighted the transparency and fairness of the February 2^nd electoral process, the efforts to discredit the TSE seem out of place. With polls showing a likely victory for the FMLN in the March 9^th runoff election, the attempts to cast doubt on the integrity of the TSE appear to be laying the groundwork for later questioning the legitimacy of the expected leftist victory.