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El Salvador The Electoral Process
From March 1982 to March 1988, Salvadorans went to the polls
five times to cast their ballots for members of the Constituent
Assembly (later converted to the Legislative Assembly), the
president, deputies of the Legislative Assembly, and municipal
officials. This flurry of electoral activity was occasioned by
the transition to a functional representative system of
government, a decidedly new experience for Salvadorans.
The first round of the 1984 presidential election was held on
March 25. Some 1.4 million Salvadorans went to the polls.
Although eight candidates competed, most voters cast their
ballots for the representative of one of the three leading
parties, the PDC's Duarte, Arena's D'Aubuisson, or the PCN's
Francisco Jose Guerrero Cienfuegos. The results were not
immediately decisive. Duarte received 43 percent of the vote,
D'Aubuisson 30 percent, and Guerrero 19. This necessitated a
runoff election on May 6 between Duarte and D'Aubuisson. Despite
entreaties from Arena, Guerrero declined to endorse either
candidate. It is doubtful that his endorsement would have made
much difference in the balloting, given Duarte's relative
popularity and D'Aubuisson's reputed connections with right-wing
violence and the disapproval of his candidacy by the United
States government. It was reported in the United States press
after the election that the United States Central Intelligence
Agency had funneled some US$2 million in covert campaign aid to
the PDC. Nevertheless, the results of the runoff were
surprisingly close, with Duarte garnering 54 percent to
D'Aubuisson's 46 percent. Some observers criticized the
presidential election on the grounds that it excluded parties of
the left, such as those represented by the FDR. Political
conditions at that time, however, were not favorable to
participation by such groups. If nothing else, the inability of
the government to provide for the physical security of leftist
candidates militated against their inclusion in the electoral
process.
The 1985 legislative and municipal elections were carried
overwhelmingly by the PDC. The party achieved an outright
majority in the Legislative Assembly, increasing its
representation from twenty-four to thirty-three seats, and
carried over 200 of the country's municipal councils. Arena and
the PCN joined as a two-party coalition for these elections in an
effort to secure a conservative majority in the assembly. The
terms of the coalition, whereby Arena agreed to split evenly the
total number of seats won, resulted in a political embarrassment
for D'Aubuisson's party, which took 29 percent of the total vote
but was awarded only one more seat (thirteen to twelve) than the
PCN, which had drawn only 8 percent of the vote. PAISA and AD
also won one seat apiece.
The style of Salvadoran political campaigning bore little
resemblance to that of the United States and other
institutionalized democracies. Personal verbal attacks between
competing candidates and parties predominated in the media,
campaign literature, and at public rallies. Debate on specific
issues was largely eschewed in favor of emotional appeals to the
electorate. It was therefore not uncommon to hear candidates and
leaders of the PDC refer to Arena as a "Nazi-fascist party,"
whereas areneros openly denounced Christian Democrats as
"communists." One of Arena leader D'Aubuisson's favorite campaign
embellishments was to slash open a watermelon with a machete; the
watermelon, he told the crowds, was like the PDC--green (the
party color) on the outside but red on the inside. This dramatic,
personalistic type of appeal highlighted the lack of
institutionalization of the Salvadoran democratic system, the
intensity of emotion elicited by the political process, and the
polarizing effect of the ongoing struggle between the government
and leftist insurgent forces. Observers reported, however, that
Arena spokesmen toned down their appeals during the 1988
legislative and municipal elections in an effort to project a
moderate, responsible image.
Data as of November 1988
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