URGENT:Call your Reps Today & Tomorrow to Sign on the Rep. Vargas Letter!

Elections Update:

On Sunday, the TSE formally announced Salvador Sanchez Ceren as president-elect of El Salvador! Nonetheless, ARENA has continued their attacks on the legitimacy of the elections, and continued to demand that the elections be annulled.

According to our sources at the TSE, the most recent set of appeals that have been presented to the TSE by ARENA regarding the electoral process will be resolved by this Friday or the following Monday. After that, there will be no other opportunities for ARENA to appeal the elections process with the TSE. After next week, ARENA’s only recourse will be El Salvador’s Supreme Court, and the party has already presented 6 cases before the court.  The Supreme Court has said that they will not rule on the elections unless the TSE has violated the Constitution, which of course they have not.

 

From our meetings with the US State Department and the US Ambassador statements from today, we are expecting them to make a formal statement on the winner and the elections once the TSE finally finishes dealing with ARENA’s ridiculous appeals, which should be by Monday or Tuesday of next week. This position is extremely frustrating, and definitely allowing ARENA’s BS claims to get more credence than deserved.

In the meantime, the right-wing controlled media has a full-on media blackout AGAINST recognizing Sanchez Ceren as the president-elect. The media has refused to cover the UN, US Embassy, OAS or US Congressional statements in support of the elections process and are completely downplaying the official TSE pronouncement of president-elect. They are only covering ARENA’s completed baseless claims of fraud and demand for the elections to be annulled.

In this political void, we need Congressional voices to back the elections process.

 

Strategy:

Rep Vargas is authoring a short Congressional letter backing the democratic process of the elections. Reps can join the statement on Thursday and that’s it.  On Friday the letter will get sent to the state department.
As many calls as we can get into our Reps offices in DC today and tomorrow will help us get a few more reps to join this letter.
If your rep can’t move quickly enough to join the letter they can still make their own statement congratulating the president-elect.
We are still asking for Reps to call on President Obama to congratulate the president-elect.

 

Updated Script:

Hi my name is ________  a constituent from  [your city] to ask [Representative name] to defend the democratic elections that recently took place in El Salvador. [I also observed the elections in El Salvador.]

On Sunday March 9th the Salvadoran people went to the polls to exercise their right to choose the next President of El Salvador. Elections day was smooth, peaceful, with high voter turnout. The margin was close so the final vote count took several days but on Sunday evening, and in full accordance with the Salvadoran electoral code and Constitution, the Elections Authority announced that FMLN candidate Salvador Sánchez Cerén had won the election and is the president-elect.

The US State Department, the UN, the Organization of American States, as well as thousands of election observers have all commended El Salvador on its free, fair, and transparent elections and on the efficiency and impartiality of the Electoral Tribunal.

Reps. Jim McGovern (D-MA) and Jim Moran (D-VA) have also made public statements in support of the professionalism and impartiality of the Electoral Tribunal.

However, even before the vote count ended on election night, the losing candidate and his party claimed that the elections were fraudulent, even though they have presented no evidence.

Since then the opposition ARENA party has demanded to have the entire election annulled.

It’s important that Members of Congress who have stood up for El Salvador’s democratic institutions take action now to show public support for the electoral process and for the elections authority.

[If your Representative signed the Dear Colleague letter: Congressperson ____ has already committed to support free and fair elections in El Salvador and we are asking s/he reaffirm their support by….]

 

Will the Congressperson:

1) Sign onto a short letter in support of El Salvador’s democratic electoral process? Rep. Juan Vargas is working with a few other offices on a short letter that will get sent to the State Department on Friday. You can Contact Aaron Allen in Representative Vargas’ office to be part of this short, timely effort: aaron.allen@mail.house.gov, or call Rep. Vargas’ office in DC.

2) Call on President Obama to congratulate El Salvador’s president-elect now that the Electoral Tribunal has declared the winner? Such action is essential for ensuring that the country’s democratic institutions and processes are respected and upheld.

Note – How to respond if the aides ask about the State Department:
The State Department has declared that they will comment publicly on the elections after all of the appeals put forward by ARENA have been dealt with, which is leaving a big political space for the opposition to continue to attack the legitimacy and instutionality of the elections. We expect the State Department’s statement on Monday or Tuesday, but in the meantime, Congressional voices are key.