Propaganda, in all its controversy,
is an integral part of each election in El Salvador. For the departmental and
municipal elections this year, candidates have already begun their animated
efforts to sway voters. Navigating the electoral code and assessing the recent
situation of transparency help with understanding El Salvador’s electoral
propaganda.
El
Salvador’s updated Electoral Code denotes the regulations surrounding the
election, including when and how candidates can display promotional
advertisements for their campaign. According to the Code, senators running for
office may begin presenting propaganda two months before election day, while
mayoral candidates must wait until one month beforehand (Art. 172). Violations
from any source of electronic or physical media (i.e. radio, TV, rallies,
demonstrations, flyers, loudspeaker announcements)(Art. 175) will involve a
fine between ten to fifty thousand colones, the previous currency for El
Salvador. This translates to $1,114- $5,714.
The
Electoral Code also lists the rules for promotional content and means of
display. No party or individual candidate may advertise on public buildings,
national monuments, trees, artwork, traffic signs, or on the walls of houses or
buildings of which the owners did not give permission (Art. 179). The Code only
allows candidates to hang posters and photos that are easy to take down- no
paintings or permanent hangings (Art 173). Lastly, candidates cannot do damage;
either in the form of insults and defamation to other candidates, or by
promoting public disorder or property damage (Art 173). Common law deals with
these violations.
Although
the Code seems to clearly list the regulations surrounding propaganda
distribution and displays in the country, questions of transparency still
arise. For example, with only one to two months of campaigning, candidates have
little time to advertise. This time limit could be positive, in that all
candidates receive equal promotional time and citizens live free from a
year-long bombardment of campaign messages. However, it also means that
citizens have little time, and limited resources to research the candidates.
There exist virtually no websites listing the candidates and their platform,
and even if there were, many Salvadorans in the rural communities live without
internet access. Most Salvadorans see only propaganda advertised on their
streets, some of it illegitimate,
In addition, CIS observers have noted that the
propaganda teaches people how to mark a ballot for a candidate or party, but as
mentioned before, there is no message of political content or platform
(pictured to the left and right). People are only told who to vote for and how
to vote, but not why. This is another transparency issue that leads to misinformed
voting.
Each
of El Salvador’s eight leading political parties use propaganda cleverly, and
sometimes even illegally, all in hopes of gaining more votes. Historically,
elections in El Salvador have been a time of unrest and potential, wrought with
heightened emotion of all descriptions. Today’s propaganda keeps that intensity
alive as the country eagerly awaits the final results.
Written by: Sarah Hammaker
