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.

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).

Elections Analysis

Sister Cities delegation of international elections observers (Photo: Vic Hinterlang)

by U.S.-El Salvador Sister Cities

The weeks leading up to the first round of elections here were intense, full of last minute campaigning and fresh waves of fear spurred by the spiking crime and murder rate in the new year. To hear ARENA tell it, the crime wave was just another example of the FMLN and current president Mauricio Fune’s soft stance on crime, and a problem that won’t let up should there be another FMLN victory. Furthermore, they allege, the FMLN has actually been working with the gangs, having the gangs pressure people to vote for them.

OBSERVER REPORT: Salvadoran family detained and harassed

reported by CISPES international elections observer

The following report concerns an ongoing situation; observers are continuing to gather details.

CISPES observers and members of other international delegations were called to witness a family of 5 Salvadorans from Belize being interrogated and detained by representatives of the Fiscal General de la República (Attorney General’s office) and the Policía Nacional Civil (National Civilian Police) behind the Gimnasio Nacional (National Gymnasium) in downtown San Salvador. The family, which included a young boy who was reportedly very shaken by the experience, had recently arrived in San Salvador to participate in tomorrow’s elections. Tonight the Salvadoran Attorney General’s office demonstrated its priorities as it pursues flimsy charges against voting citizens while former President Francisco Flores, suspected of stealing over $10 million from the state’s coffers, remains missing. Former President Flores was a former client of the Attorney General himself, who is known for his longstanding connection to the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) party.

Tomorrow is Election Day

by CISPES

Voting centers will open to poll workers to start setting up at 5 AM.  They will open to the general public and voting will begin at 7 AM. At 5 PM the voting centers close, any voter already in line to vote at 5 PM is allowed to vote.  Once voting ends, poll workers will count the votes at their voting tables and results will be electronically transmitted to a Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) center in San Salvador.  TSE president Eugenio Chicas says they are confident they will be able to announce a result by 10 PM.

Stay tuned to this blog for news as well as observer reports from the CISPES, SHARE Foundation, and Sister Cities international observer delegations which will be in voting centers across the country from 5 AM until the last vote is counted and results are transmitted to San Salvador.

SHARE Foundation delegates to observe elections tomorrow

by SHARE Foundation

FMLN Vice-presidential candidate Oscar Ortiz at the Vice-presidential Candidates Forum (Photo: SHARE Foundation)

Garnered by a frenzy of democratically charged delegates, SHARE and several other solidarity organizations have been busy at work educating more than 200 International Observers on issues such as; democracy, food sovereignty, literacy, human and LGBTQI rights. Delegates have spent time learning about the history of SHARE as well as its current projects and focuses via various mediums, for example: a group of young people, from MPR-12 put on a short skit depicting SHARE´s role in accompanying the Salvadoran people while they struggled during the armed conflict. Yesterday morning, SHARE delegates attended a forum with the three primary Vice Presidential candidates from the FMLN, ARENA and UNIDAD. Later this afternoon, the delegates will begin their in-depth elections observation training.

Reports of former employer trying to coerce fired workers to vote for ARENA

reported by CISPES elections observers

Image: CEAL

The STIT maquila (textile factory) workers union has denounced, via our allies at the Salvadoran Union and Social Front (FSS) and the Center for Labor Study and Support (CEAL), that 1,200 workers were fired without being payed their legally required severance pay. The factory they were fired from, which produced produced products for Hanes, Lacoste, Fruit of the Loom, and Levi’s, closed and its owners have made an illegal agreement with the fired workers that attempts to influence their vote in the upcoming February 2 elections.

More than 4,000 observers will monitor elections

by CISPES

According to an article in El Universal, more than 4,000 observers have been accredited by El Salvador’s electoral authority, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, to monitor the country’s February 2 presidential elections, as well as pre- and post-electoral activities. Of these, 2,318 are national Salvadoran observers and 1,830 are international observers. International observers will come from official missions of the Organization of American States, European Union, Inter-American Union of Electoral Organisms, Council of Latin American Electoral Experts, and the International Federation of Lawyers, as well as groups invited by Salvadoran civil society organizations, including the CISPES, U.S.-El Salvador Sister Cities and SHARE Foundation observer delegations.  All observers are accredited and trained by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal to help guarantee the transparency of the electoral process.