Getting Ready for the 2012 Elections

Blog by: Carlitos Malischke

Nine political parties.  Every mayoral position up for grabs.  And all 84 congressional seats.  While this may not be a presidential election, this is a very significant electoral event in the democratic process of El Salvador.

CIS started observing elections in 1994, the first year I was here as an observer.  I was here again in 2004 observing in El Paraiso, and also in Chalatenango city in 2009 when the FMLN won the presidency with the nation electing Mauricio Funes.  People said it was the culmination of 75 years of "la lucha".

Now we are less than a week away from March 11th, another election day in El Salvador.  For the first time there will be residential voting in half the country.  Many Salvadorans who previously had to hitch a ride in the back of a pickup to vote in the next town, will now be able to walk to their village grade school to vote.  This will make it much easier for many Salvadorans to exercise their right to vote.

However, when they get to the voting site they will encounter a far more complicated ballot.  Actually there will be two separate ballots, listed below.  One for electing the mayors.  The ballot that just has the party flags, which is the traditional ballot.  Just mark the symbol of your favorite party and you are done.  

Town Council Ballots 

 With the easy vote out of the way a voter will then have to deal with the ballot for legislative assembly seats, or "diputados".  Each department of El Salvador is apportioned seats based on its population.  For example, Chalatenago has three seats.  San Salvador, with its much larger concentration of people, has twenty-five. And there are independent candidates not affiliated with any party.  They appear on the bottom of the ballot.

 

Legislative Assembly Ballots (Each department has a different number of faces according to the deputies being elected.  For example San Salvador 25 and Cuscatlan 3) 

  

Pictures of the 25 assembly candidates for each of the nine political parties.  This is the first time that pictures of assembly candidates will appear on the ballot.  Your vote for the candidate of your choice will influence the election outcome.

Keep in mind there are a lot of illiterate folks here, many who can't read or even sign their names.  They "sign" the voting register with their thumb print.  

  

Rosita from Guarjila explains the various voting options. 

Yet, I fear that many people know little about these candidates.  Last week I visited the small community of Teosinte in Chalatenango Department.  This is one of the repopulated communities.  They are highly favorable to the FMLN.  In Chalatenango there are three seats up for grabs.  And the FLMN has three candidates.  I asked Yolanda if she knew who the candidates were.  She could only name one.

I'm not here in El Salvador just to observe elections.  I'm here to be with family and friends.  Some 20 years ago the good folks from several of the repopulated communities in Chalatenango invited churches to sister, or twin with them.  I'm proud to say that today, there are three Milwaukee area Catholic churches, as well as the Lutheran Synod of Wisconsin, with 20 years of sistering with communities of El Salvador.  International solidarity is strong and essential to our world today.  So, I come to be with friends and family. 

The week before joining the Elections Delegation at CIS I traveled north to the Department of Chalatenago.  It was Ash Wednesday in Guarjila, a humbling call to conversion.

CIS facilitates my relationships and my ministry with the people of El Salvador.  I owe much to CIS and all those who work and volunteer at CIS.  It's a wonderful family to be part of.  I try, in the small way that I can, to contribute to the ongoing mission of CIS.

Back in the capital of San Salvador we met with some of the political parties and members of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE).  Jorge Schafik, son of Shafik Handel, is the FMLN candidate for mayor of the capital city of San Salvador.  He explained the party platform to our group of observers.

(Candidate Shafick holding fold-out)

I'll be observing in the town of San Jose Villanueva, where the voting population is close to 13,000 people.  I expect the one main school building where voting will occur will be jam packed all day next Sunday.  It will be quite a priviledge to observe, and a long day at that.

Preparations for voting begin at 5am.  The Voting Center opens at 7am, closes at 5pm.  It's going to be a long, hot day.  And then the counting of the ballots.  I hope we're done by midnight.  But, they are predicting a long night.  And the people will be awaiting the results.

 Life goes on in El Salvador.  The struggle is an everyday challenge.  But, amid the pain and suffering there is joy and celebration of life and love.