11) FMLN TOPS EL
SALVADOR VOTE
(The
following
article is from the February 1-14, 2009, issue of People's Voice,
Canada's
leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the
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The Farabundo Marti National
Liberation Front (FMLN) finished first in El Salvador's parliamentary
elections on January 18, increasing chances that Mauricio Funes, the
progressive movement's candidate, will win the presidential vote in
March. Such an outcome would continue the recent pan-Latin American
trend of election victories for left political forces.
The FMLN
received 42.6% of the
votes on Jan. 18, taking 35 seats out of 84 in the Legislative
Assembly. This is an increase of 2.9% in votes and three seats over the
March 2006 parliamentary election. A total of 943,936 voters backed the
FMLN, up from 624,635 three years ago. All these figures mark a
high-water point in electoral success for the FMLN, which signed a
peace accord with the country's US-backed government in 1992. The
accord ended a lengthy civil war in which the military and right-wing
forces carried out numerous massacres against peasants, labour
movement, and opposition sectors.
The latest
parliamentary vote
also marks a decline for the ruling right-wing ARENA party (Alianza
Republicana Nacionalista). ARENA dropped from 39.4% of the vote
in 2006
to 38.5% in this campaign, and fell to 32 seats from its former 34. The
ARENA popular vote rose from 620,000 up to 854,166, reflecting a higher
voter turnout this year.
Smaller
right-wing parties also
saw a decline in their vote shares and seats, but did elect 17
deputies, leaving the FMLN in a minority in the Assembly. In municipal
elections conducted at the same time, the FMLN made overall gains
across the country, but lost control of the mayoralty of the capital,
San Salvador.