Accusations fly in final stretch of tight Salvadoran Presidential race.
| Autor | Witte-Lebhar, Benjamin |
Less than three weeks before voters head to the polls to select a replacement for outgoing leader Mauricio Funes, El Salvador's marathon presidential race remains too close to call.
Norman Quijano of the far-right Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (ARENA) and Salvador Sanchez Ceren of the leftist Frente Farabundo Marti para la Liberacion Nacional (FMLN) are expected to finish first and second in the Feb. 2 election, though not necessarily in that order. Neither, though, is likely to earn the 50% plus one valid votes needed to win the five-candidate contest outright, meaning the two top vote getters will have to square off in a runoff. The second-round election, should it be necessary, will take place March 9.
Quijano and Sanchez Ceren both launched their presidential bids in late 2012, a full year before the start of El Salvador's official campaign season (NotiCen, Sept. 20, 2012). In all that time, however, neither has been able to gain any lasting advantage over the other, evidence, say pundits, of just how politically polarized El Salvador remains. A poll published Dec. 4 by the daily El Mundo gave Quijano (35%) a slight edge over his FMLN rival (27%). A week later, San Salvador's Universidad Centroamericana (UCA) released a poll with more or less the opposite result. The UCA predicted 38.7% for Sanchez Ceren versus 31.3% for Quijano. A survey released Dec. 11 by polling firm Newlink Research showed support for the two at en even 33.4% apiece.
The various polls do agree, however, on who will finish third: former President Antonio Saca (2004-2009), an ARENA castaway who now heads the conservative coalition Movimiento Unidad (NotiCen, March 14, 2013). Parties involved in Saca's "movement" include the Partido de Concertacion Nacional (PCN), Partido Democrata Cristiana (PDC), and the Gran Alianza por la Unidad Nacional (GANA). The latter, formed four years ago by ARENA dissidents, controls 11 of the 84 seats in the Asamblea Legislativa (AL), El Salvador's unicameral legislature. Saca announced his candidacy last February, presenting himself as a conciliatory alternative to the ever-sparring ARENA and FMLN. He is expected to garner between 15% and 20% of the vote.
Two additional candidates, Rene Alcides Rodriguez of the Partido Salvadoreno Progresista (PSP) and Jose Oscar Morales of the Fraternidad Patriota Salvadorena (FPS), will also compete in the upcoming election. Polls show support for the pair at less than 1% combined.
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