As an international observer at the 2009 Presidential elections in El Salvador, I was so astonished to witness history in the making. At the end of the election day, hundreds of voters cheered the campaign slogan in the streets, “ Si, Se Puede.” because for the first time, true democracy has finally won victory over the strongest right wing party. Farabundo Marti National Liberation (FMLN) candidate, Maurico Funes defeated National Republican Alliance (ARENA) party candidate, Rodrigo Avila in a tight race. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) reported that President Maurico Funes won majority vote of 51.23 percent over 49.1 percent for Arena party.
In January, the presidential campaign exit polls showed that FMLN party’s potential unprecedented win could possibly beat ARENA’s four consecutive presidential election winning streak at a close margin. In order to lessen corruption, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal approved over 4,000 registered international and national observers. Under my program, the 8th Center For Exchange and Solitary International (CIS) recruited up to 265 observers from 11 foreign nations to observe in 28 different municipalities. Our monitoring team was assigned in Ilabasco, Cabanas (pro-Arena party area), which is a municipality located northeast part of El Salvador.
On Election Day:
My assessment of the electoral process corroborated the marginal state of El Salvador’s democratic institution. On election day, acting as a complete impartial bystander was the biggest challenge for me. Although I was not authorized to participate in the elections, its was very difficult to not intervene due to the transparency issues. Consequently, I’ve recorded over a dozen irregularities; ranging from violations in voting privacy, the usage of invalid citizenship identifications, senior citizen assistance, and counting duplicate ballots. Other than procedural issues, logistical implications was also a problem. The voting tables occasionally formed lines wrapped around the booths, which caused traffic in the middle of the center. The voting booth equipment was somewhat mistreated. Several voting tables were missing issued curtains. Also, there was a huge unbalanced of Arena party colors surrounding the voting center. The ARENA campaigners distributed food and beverages, did not remove hung up party flags on nearby buildings and transported distanced voters to the voting centers.
Despite fraud, the election process performed better than what we expected. Our finalized report asserted that there were no major incidents held during the elections. The report stressed other implications, such as circulation of anti-party propaganda, bribery votes and attempt votes from voters from neighboring countries (Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala). In conclusion, there is still room to rectifying the legality of the voting process. This new era will provide the electoral system a better chance in providing free and fairer elections in the future. This historical election ended two decades of strong conservative and corruptive rule. Under President Maurico Funes’s leadership, the country can be more committed to achieving sustainable democracy. In retrospect, high levels of longevity corruption and oppression crippled the democratic system. The country suffered from severe socio-economic losses under the ARENA party. Overtime, poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and human rights violations exacerbated in poorer communities. The growing pains within poor communities ended up polarizing the country between the military and the ex-guerilla Marxist rural rebels.
With this new victory, The FLMN party can rebuild a new and prosperous democratic institution. President Maurico Funes’s platform focuses on the implementation of policies that will benefit the majority of the people, which will guarantee freedom of expression, human rights protection and equal participation in the free market and investment climate. In doing so, the new administration must first establish reconciliation with ARENA party in order to work with the legislative majority, which is an excellent approach in reducing the income disparity, ensuring civil liberties and strengthening domestic security.
Still yet, President Maurico Funes faces intensive criticism from the ARENA party. ARENA political opponents believe that President Maurico Funes’s win in the executive power will exercise Venezuelan socialist influences. Also, critics argued against President Funes foreign policy decisions. Many argue against President Funes’ support to re-integrate stronger relations with the U.S and fear that he will be one of U.S‘s bully puppets. Since Post-Reagan administration, the U.S-El Salvador relation has been very controversial in the country. Many anti-American critics have expressed deep concerns focusing on El Salvador’s involvement in the Iraq War, CAFTA, and the usage of U.S. dollarization as El Salvadorian currency.
President Funes advocated that his change reform will reshape El Salvador’s foreign policy. His platform does not represent the old leftist school of thought nor advocates Chavez, Oretga and Castro influences. Instead, President Funes is a true proponent in establishing a different tone to El Salvador’s global image by resetting relations, especially with the U.S. and Latin American countries. El Salvador can not afford to repeal against CAFTA and U.S. dollarization. This course of action would debilitate the country’s economic security during the current global financial crisis. At The 2009 Summit of the Americas, President Funes proposed that El Salvador must strengthen relationships by respecting those existing global trade-military agreements but ensure that those future decisions represent the interest of the people. El Salvador looks forward to further cooperation with U.S. if only the Obama administration is willing to listen and not to impose power on the country.
