“Dirty” Campaigns

The Solidarity Force (Fuerza Solidaria), an ARENA backing organization, recently ran television adds that connect a photograph of Mauricio Funes, to the FMLN icon, to a photograph of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
The FMLN acted immediately, calling the Tribunal Suprema Electoral (TSE) to take a strong position in ensuring clean campaigns and a transparent electoral process.
FMLN representatives [...]

More Election Reforms

There was major disagreement amongst the five majority parties in the Hacienda Commission of the Legislative Assembly discussing electoral reform once again.
The argument over whether ballots will need to be signed and stamped by an official of the Vote Receiving Committee (JRV) in order to be counted has been ongoing since December of 2007 when the [...]

right-wing smear campaign ads targetting Mauricio Funes

a group called “Fuerza Solidaria”, clearly linked to the ARENA party, has been broadcasting these advertisements recently in El Salvador.  The ads recall the dirty campaign against Schafik Handal and the FMLN in 2004.  Check out the ads here and a popular blog in Spanish criticizing the ads here.

Report by Delegation to El Salvador Challenges US Government’s Role in Human Rights Abuses and Political Intervention

October 8, 2009
Download report at www.cispes.org/2008delegationreport (Spanish version coming soon)
A recently returned delegation to El Salvador has published a report on human rights abuses, the potential for fraud and intervention in the 2009 Salvadoran elections, and the role that the US government has played in the cited injustices.  The delegation was [...]

UCA poll shows large lead for FMLN candidate

from http://luterano.blogspot.com/2008/10/new-uca-poll-regarding-2009-elections.html
The University of Central America’s Public Opinion Institute has released a new poll regarding the views of Salvadorans about the upcoming national elections in 2009. The press release with the poll results highlights these conclusions from the study:

More than half of Salvadorans have little or no trust in the electoral process.
More than half of [...]

Avila choses Zablah

ARENA party presidential candidate Rodrigo Avila has chosen Arturo Zablah as his running mate.
Zablah, in the past, has been seen as a centrist, previously criticizing ARENA party actions. Even with his centrist view, he is not considered very popular with people on the left or right politically.
The decision of Zablah is seen as a sign that [...]

ARENA Candidate Avila narrows down Vice President picks

FMLN Presidential Candidate Mauricio Funes chose his running mate weeks ago, while ARENA candidate Rodrigo Avila has just recently narrowed his potential partners to three.
José Ángel Quirós, Patricia Figueroa and Arturo Zablah are officially Avila’s top vice presidential picks.
Quirós is said to be more of a technically profficient potential. He has served with presidential administrations before, for example, [...]

This week in El Salvador elections…

As previously mentioned, the foreign minister from El Salvador, Marisol Argueta, visited the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) in Washington DC on September 18th. Argueta called for the United States government to take more action in Latin America, mentioning the threat she felt leftist governments would pose to US national safety.
Many have criticized Argueta’s call for [...]

FMLN calls for EU Electoral Observers

The Constitutional/Electoral Reforms Legislative Commission of the FMLN party met withthe European Union Electoral Observation Mission to ask for delegates to help with the issue of transparency in the upcoming election.
FMLN representative Walter Durán affirmed that the latest reforms to the Electoral Code reflect the judicial and political institutional weakness of the Salvadoran Electoral System- [...]