Sister Cities Election Observation Press Release

March 18, 2009

U.S.-El Salvador Sister Cities led an observation mission with the Social Initiative for Democracy for the March 15th, 2009 Presidential Elections in El Salvador. The mission included 24 International and Salvadoran observers and observed in the municipalities of El Puerto, La Libertad; Arcatao Chalatenango; Cinquera, Cabanas; Tecoluca, San Vicente and Suchitoto, Cuscatlán

We would like to recognize and thank the Salvadoran people for their enormous participation in these historic elections.  We were very impressed by the commitment of the Salvadoran people to this important process.

We would also like to thank the members of the Municipal Election Boards, and Departmental Election Boards, the representatives of the Voting Tables and the National Civilian Police, for their orientation, help and support given before, during and after the elections.

As an observer mission, we have had a presence in the country since the beginning of January, and, in comparison with the January elections, the elections in March were much more fluid and organized than in January. Many of the problems that we observed in January were not repeated in March. However, we did observe some anomalies and incoherencies that were not resolved before the March elections, and we sincerely hope that these issues will be resolved before the next election:

• Although the efficiency of the installation and opening of the Voting Centers improved since the January elections, there were still many problems at the time of the closure of the Voting Center. These problems were observed in the vote scrutiny, principally with the vote count and the voting acts. In the Voting Center La Escuela de Alianza in La Libertad, there were still acts that had not been given to the Municipal Election Board at 8:30pm because some representatives at the voting tables did not fill out the acts correctly.
• In the Voting Centers in Arcatao, Tecoluca and La Libertad, the secrecy of the vote was not respected. In La Libertad, we observed that the curtain in the voting booth was not adequate for hiding the vote, and that the political party members could see how those voters marked their ballots. In Arcatao, the majority of voters did not enter the voting booths, and instead voted at the table.
• In January, our Observation Mission and many others expressed concern that the ink that was used to mark the finger of each voter was not indelible. This issue was not resolved for the March election, and the ink used did not adequately mark the finger of the voters. Also, the Voting Table representatives did not check the voter’s fingers consistently.
• The Voting Centers in Arcatao, La Libertad and Tecoluca did not provide adequate conditions for disabled and elderly voters.
• Party propaganda was seen inside the Voting Centers.
• We continued to receive denouncements of inconsistencies and problems in the electoral registry, specifically in Arcatao and La Libertad.

Also, it is important to note that the work of our organization and others to provide accurate information to the Salvadoran people, such as the official position of the U.S. regarding the Salvadoran elections, was censored. However, we observed that propaganda campaigns such as ¨I will not hand over El Salvador¨, which were clearly partisan, continued until March 15th 2009.

Lastly, we want to express our worry regarding cases of violence in the municipality of Cinquera, Cabanas. According to police reports from the municipality, after the vote closed on March 15th a young woman who is a member of the FMLN party was beaten and received death threats by members of the ARENA party, one of whom fired a gun.

Also, members of the community of Cinquera have denounced a series of incidents of electoral violence in the last four months. These cases include a list, written by the ARENA candidate for Mayor in December, of 60 people from the municipality that were accused of being armed and dangerous, which was sent to the Armed Forces. The people whose names appear on the list and community members assure that there is no motive to suspect nor blame these people.

We call on the National Civilian Police to protect the Salvadoran communities and on the Attorney General of the Republic to investigate and process the aggressors of political and electoral violence.

Our final observation report will be presented to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal. We will give a copy to the U.S. Congresspeople that represent us and have collaborated with our organization. We also will send a copy to the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador.

U.S.-El Salvador Sister Cities
March 18th, 2009

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