- Title: EL SALVADOR: NATIONWIDE ELECTIONS
- Date: 16th March 1997
- Summary: SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR (MARCH 16, 1997) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. LV/SLV INTERIOR OF VOTING PRECINCT (3 SHOTS) 0.16 2. SV PRESIDENT ARMANDO CALDERON SOL VOTING SHAKES HANDS WITH OFFICIALS AND WAVES (2 SHOTS) 0.38 3. SLV PEOPLE VOTING ARRIVING TO VOTE AND BEING CHECKED BY SECURITY WOMAN 0.42 4. SLV ARENA CANDIDATE MARIO VALIENTE VOTING (3 SHOTS) 1.01 5. SCU PEOPLE LOOKING AT LISTS OF CANDIDATES 1.05 6. SLV PEOPLE REGISTERING TO VOTE /PEOPLE VOTING (3 SHOTS) 1.20 7. SCU FMLN CANDIDATE HECTOR SILVA VOTING (2 SHOTS) 1.39 8. SLV PEOPLE AND SECURITY OUTSIDE POLLING STATION 1.43 9. SV POLLING STATION ACTIVITIES (3 SHOTS) 1.56 10. SLV PEOPLE WALKING DOWN STREET 2.02 11. SV POLICEMEN STANDBY 2.07 12. SV MAN CASTS HIS VOTE / WOMAN VOTING (2 SHOTS) 2.19 13. SV/SCU VOTE COUNTING / BALLOT PAPERS (3 SHOTS) 2.37 Initials S3 P3 Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
- Embargoed: 31st March 1997 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR
- City:
- Country: El Salvador LATIN AMERICA
- Reuters ID: LVA2MRX4AFTBZ7MFBJ5EDBDMU6EB
- Story Text: - INTRO: El Salvadorans have voted in key nationwide elections to renew Congress and elect 262 mayors in races that pitted former battlefield enemies at the polls.
Voting started on Sunday (March 16) in El Salvador in an atmosphere of calm under the watchful eye of about 10,000 police and 1,000 international observers.
Around 2.6 million voters were eligible to choose from among 13 parties to fill positions for 84 deputies in Congress and for 262 mayors.
Pitted against the ruling right-wing National Republican Alliance (ARENA) are the former guerrillas of the left-wing Farabundo Marti Liberation Movement (FMLN), which has gained support at the expense of the ARENA.
The FMLN has transformed itself from a guerrilla movement into a democratic party and hopes to make gains on the 20 seats they now hold in Congress, compared with ARENA's 39 seats.
"We hope that the people will massively turn out and take advantage of the moment to express their opinion," El Salvador President Armando Calderon Sol told reporters after voting in the capital.
Various opinion polls have shown a decline in support for ARENA, which Calderon Sols represents.
Two opinion polls from local universities, and another from the Gallup organisation, showed the FMLN was slightly ahead in voter support, although the number of voters who planned to abstain was high.
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