SPECIAL REPORT: EL SALVADOR'S VOTERS GET FIRST CHANCE TO CHOOSE BETWEEN DIVERSE POLITICAL PARTIES

Record ID: 835066

  • Title: SPECIAL REPORT: EL SALVADOR'S VOTERS GET FIRST CHANCE TO CHOOSE BETWEEN DIVERSE POLITICAL PARTIES
  • Date: 14th March 1989
  • Summary: SAN SALVADOR, NOVEMBER 23, 1987 (REUTERS EL SALVADOR (W) SVs Ungo leaving airport surrounded by supporters and journalists - supporters waving banners and cheering as Ungo looks on. (3 shots)
  • Embargoed: 29th March 1989 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: El Salvador
  • City:
  • Country: El Salvador
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA3LG2DFTWFZ50AUSFCQ1T6V0MN
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: INTRODUCTION: For the first time in their history El Salvador's voters will be able to choose between diverse political parties when they go to the polls on March 19. The choice to be made is between presidential candidates of the incumbent Christian Democratic Party (PDC) of outgoing President Jose Napoleon Duarte and the rightist Republican Nationalist Alliance, or Arena. Five other parties are putting candidates forward but acknowledge they have no chance of winning. They accept the race for the presidency will be between PDC contender Fidel Chavez Mena and Arena candidate Alfredo Cristiani. That there is any choice at all, along with the prospects of a constitutional transfer of power, demonstrates how far El Salvador has progressed towards democracy. But security forces and right-wing death squads continue to summarily execute suspected leftists, and the leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) has threatened to escalate a conflict in which at least 70,000 Salvadorans have been killed. The crisis that has gripped El Salvador for the past ten years has reached convulsive proportions as the country approaches the general election. Leftist rebels on March 10 reinforced their call to boycott the election by declaring a nation-wide traffic ban. They said they would enforce this through sabotage. The FMLN said the ban would begin at midnight on March 15, four days before the election, and would last until further notice. Banning traffic on the nation's roads and highways has been a common practice of the guerrillas in their long fight to overthrow the United States government. Past bans have virtually paralized vehicle traffic, the principal means of transportation in this tiny nation. The rebels enforced their order by shooting and firebombing trucks, cars or buses travelling on roads.

    SYNOPSIS: Workers from a left-wing union threw Molotov cocktails, overturned cars and buses and looted stores during one of the violent demonstrations now wracking El Salvador. The workers were protesting against a bomb attack on their headquarters. The demonstration came a day after talks in Mexico between the FMLN and the country's main political parties failed to reach an agreement over rebel demands that the elections be postponed and the army restructured.

    In 1987 two gunmen shot dead Herbert Ernesto Amaya, President of El Salvador's Human Rights Commission. The Commission accused government-run death squads of the killing. The assassination came as the government was trying to convince leftist politicians it was safe for them to return to the country.

    One of them, Salvadoran rebel leader Guillermo Ungo, returned home that year to a big welcome from his cheering supporters. Ungo is President of the Democratic Revolutionary Front (FDR), whose leaders fled the country in 1980 during a wave of repression. He told the crowds he'd come to "join in the struggle of the Salvadoran people for a country with dignity and independence".

    The ruling Christian Democratic Party conceded defeat to the right-wing opposition in El Salvador's national election in 1988 but it said the poll represented a victory over left-wing rebels. The rightist Arena party became the dominant party in the 60-seat National Assembly. After the election result an Arena spokesman spoke about party unity:
    Christian Democrat leader Jose Napoleon Duarte was sworn in as a member of the country's civilian-military junta in March 1980. He had lived in exile in Venezuela for seven years after losing the 1972 presidential election to General Autoro Molin. Duarte became President of El Salvador in November 1980.

    In March 1982 the United States gave its backing to the Christian Democrats in elections for a constituent assembly. A coalition of right-wing parties led by Roberto D'Aubuisson gained control of parliament.

    With D'Aubuisson in power the civil war with the left-wing guerrillas of the FMLN escalated with thousands of innocent civilians getting caught in the conflict. Political killings also increased with notorious right-wing death squads attacking those suspected of supporting the guerrillas..
    Duarte was re-elected as president in 1984. His electoral victory led to deeper United States involvement in the war. Military and economic aid to El Salvador was increased and the number of military personnel training and advising Salvadoran troops also grew. Since then Duarte's attempts at negotiating peace have failed.

    Five Central American heads of state met in El Salvador in February to pursue their commitment to regional peace. But they revealed sharp divisions over the question of allowing outsiders to monitor progress on democratic reforms, Guatemala and the host country's President Duarte -who is now terminally ill -- called the summit to revive the peace accord they signed in 1987. Observers thought the mere fact of a summit was encouraging as it had been postponed five times before.

    With fresh young recruits and newly arrived AK-47 assault rifles, leftist guerrillas in El Salvador are ready to intensify their struggle following the failure of their peace initiative. They have weathered a US-funded and directed counter-insurgency effort and are confident that political and military conditions are turning in their favour. Then they feel they can force a negotiated settlement to the war. The FMLN guerrillas made a bold peace overture in January offering to participate in presidential elections if they were postponed for six months to allow them to organise. But after weeks of trading proposals amid mutual suspicion and mistrust the hope of a breakthrough appears dead.

    One US opinion poll carried out in El Salvador in February said 27 per cent of people consulted said they would vote for the right-wing Arena party. Eighteen percent preferred the Christian Democrats. Nearly 40 per cent were unwilling to divulge their preference or were undecided.

    D'Aubuisson's Arena party promises clean government and an economic revival. But it's felt that Arena candidate Alfredo Christiani may not reach the 51 per cent needed to avoid a second round run-off in the election. During his campaign Christiani has defended the US aid El Salvador receives.
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