CRIPDES – UCRES’ demands on the upcoming election

DIARIO CO-LATINO and YSUCA reported about UCRES statement regarding the upcoming elections:

Within the framework of the project “Active and Strengthened Citizenship to Promote a Culture of Peace in seven municipalities of La Libertad and San Salvador”, led by the Association for the Development of El Salvador (CRIPDES) and the Union of Rural Communities of the North of San Salvador and La Libertad (UCRES), the organizations stated the challenges of rural communities in electoral times.

 

(Cintia) González explained that it is important for the Legislative Assembly to have an ideological plurality, in order to guarantee the growth of a democratic society, where peaceful coexistence is the general interest, and not the division of the Salvadoran population.

“We want a plural Legislative body and each institution to be autonomous, this is very important to us because (…) if only one political party governs, important issues such as women and youth in rural areas will be erased. Currently, we are not represented and that is regrettable”, she said.

 

Meanwhile, María Esmeralda Delgado, from the Los Amates Youth Association, said that attending the training in “Social Accountability and Political advocacy”, together with forty leaders of the rural communities of the municipalities of: Colón, San Juan Opico Zaragoza, Comasagua, Tacachico and El Paisnal, has allowed them to carry out an analysis of the electoral context and the challenges that social inclusion implies.

“The current electoral campaign has been characterized by promoting hate speech and division between the different political parties. As in the case of two supporters of the FMLN party, who were assassinated on January 31, assuming that this took place, because they belonged to a party with a different ideology than the one of the current government. We regret that in this democratic process fear and intimidation will stick with the population for thinking differently”, she said.

She considered it relevant that in the electoral proposals there is a general absence of projects, programs or policies directed to the rural population and their communities, which does not allow an integral development of this group.

“We call on the population to go out to vote on February 28. That their vote be conscious and according to the work proposals of the candidates, and not only let themselves be carried away by the image of a person or their political party”, she suggested.

 

Regarding transparency after the elections, Alex Vanegas (Youth Roundtable) expressed that as citizens they will be “vigilant” in the execution of public funds by the current government of President Nayib Bukele, as well as the elected municipal governments, in order to strengthen “transparency” and accountability.

“Regarding the Legislative body, we do not want a single political party to seek to have all power, because we would be facing a new dictatorship and that directly threatens Salvadoran democracy. And we agree that article 85 should be incorporated into the constitutional reform proposal, where non-partisan organizations propose candidates, but we ask that said reform be transparent and not be done behind closed doors”, he said.

 

Felicia Mijango-president of UCRES- mentioned that among the activities that political parties have been carrying out in rural areas, they considered that only one of the political parties in contention, the FMLN, has mentioned proposals that link women and youth, but she considered that much more is needed from the Salvadoran State.

“We had the JÓVENES CON TODO program, executed in the territories, but unfortunately all th efforts of those programs areon hold by ​​the current government. And we see that those items in the other political parties – such as the government party – are not directed to rural youth. Everything is advertising…” she reaffirmed.

Likewise, she urged political parties to generate greater “gender equity and equality”, and that in internal electoral processes the role of women should not be discriminated or minimized. And that 50% of female participation in these popular voting processes is fulfilled:

“There should be greater participation of women for different public positions, such as municipal governments, councils and PARLACEN, and we endorse our support for women running for these positions, because we trust that they will play a fundamental role in the development of our country”.

 

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