Human Rights Ombudsman calls elections tranquil, calls on population to vote without fear

by CISPES

In an interview on Channel 33 less than an hour before the scheduled 5:00 PM

Human Rights Ombudsman David Morales (Photo: Democracy in the Americas)

closing of the polls, Human Rights Ombudsman David Morales highlighted the tranquility of today’s electoral process.  “We haven’t observed any serious anomalies,” he said.  Morales commented that they had received different denouncements throughout the day that the Human Rights Ombudsman’s Office had investigated, mentioning isolated cases of people with disabilities and transgendered people being denied the right to vote.

Workers denounce voter coercion

Francisco Gómez, a member of the Telecommunications Industry Workers Union (SITCOM), appeared on El Salvador’s national television station TVES this morning to denounce coercive actions by maquila factory owners to convince workers to vote for the right-wing ARENA party. He reported that a factory owner in the San Marcos free trade zone invited workers to a breakfast with Norman Quijano, candidate for ARENA, and that after Quijano left, the boss made threats against workers.

First Lady protests withdrawal of forensics staff from women’s centers

Photo: Verdad Digital

by CISPES

First Lady Vanda Pignato, who also holds the government position of Secretary of Social Inclusion, has denounced a decision by the director of El Salvador’s Forensics Institute (Medicina Legal) to remove representatives of the institution from the country’s network of women’s services centers.  Forensics Institute staff, who conducted medical investigations in cases of sexual assault and domestic abuse, were withdrawn from two of El Salvador’s five Women’s City (Ciudad Mujer) centers, which provide free legal, medical and employment services to the nation’s women.  According to Pignato, the staff that was pulled from Ciudad Mujer informed her that Forensics Institute Director Miguel Fortín ordered their removal and declared that until the right-wing ARENA party returns to power there will be no Forensics Institute representatives in the Women’s Cities.

President Funes reports that 24 companies have been charged with influencing votes

Source: Transparencia Activa (http://www.transparenciaactiva.gob.sv) [Informal translation]

by Presidential Communications Secretary, February 7, 2014

Mauricio Funes, President of the Republic, revealed that a total of 24 companies have been charged before the Labor Ministry for coercing their workers to vote for a particular political party in the second round of elections, which is a felony punishable with jail time.

More reports of employers pressuring workers to vote for ARENA

A maquila (textile factory) in El Salvador (Photo: El Diario de Hoy)

On Wednesday, January 29, El Salvador’s Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare opened an investigation against the NEMTEX maquila (textile factory) after receiving reports from workers that factory management was pressuring workers to vote for the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) party candidate Norman Quijano. Workers at other maquilas have also reported other incidents of voter coercion.

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.