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El Salvador Elections 2009
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Be a Voice for Democracy in El Salvador!
Thank you for participating as an International Election Observer in the 2009 El Salvador Elections!
Be an International Election Observer
in January and March 2009
Salvadorans will elect their:
- Legislative Deputies, Mayors, and Municipal Councils (Delegation January 11-20, 2009)
- PRESIDENT and VICE-PRESIDENT (Delegation March 8-17, 2009)
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Election Observer Delegation
From January 11th to January 22nd 2009, five members of SalvAide’s Election Observer Delegation went to El Salvador to monitor the municipal and legislative elections in the department of Cuscatlan---Suchitoto, Copapyo, and Las Americas. Like in the past, our partner organizations, CRIPDES and CORDES, and our partner communities had requested our assistance in different ways. Throughout the past four months, SalvAide has supported a civic education campaign, which has provided 330 communities with workshops about their democratic rights and responsibilities.
It is hoped that the presence of International Observers helps diminish the likelihood of political intimidation and violence during the elections. In the end, the SalvAide delegation called for implementation of election reforms, including residential voting, to guarantee a transparent process and participation. The role of the elections delegates, during the January election, was to observed and provided witness to the electoral process and to potential violations of the electoral code before and during the elections. |
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The delegation participated in a training session given by the TSE (Supreme Electoral Tribunal) with all the other CIS international independent observers. This gave them the opportunity to learn about the Salvadoran electoral system. On Election Day, the delegation spent the whole day, from the installation of the voting stations to the transmission of the results, monitoring the elections.
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The participants reported any problems they observed either to the officials that were present or by documenting them in their electoral observation guide. An evaluation and press conference took place after the elections, which highlighted to the national media the main irregularities and the general observations that were made during the elections.
Overall, the election process observed in Suchitoto, Copapyo, and Las Americas ran quite smoothly, although some irregularities were observed. For example, neither the propaganda laws nor the right to secrecy of vote was upheld. For more specific, Salvaide will be producing an a report that documents our experience with both of the elections at the end of March, after the presidential elections. |
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Help turn a new page for democracy in El Salvador
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Your presence in El Salvador as an organization and/or as individual observers will enrich your understanding of our world, as you accompany a people in search of social justice through an important moment in their history, which will prove critical as to whether or not a democratic society can be consolidated, as set forth as the objective of the 1992 Peace Accords.
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Your participation in an International Election Observer Delegation with SalvAide will be an invaluable tool to learn about the reality of El Salvador. It will also be important to encourage the conduct of free and fair elections in El Salvador in 2009 and the construction of democracy in El Salvador!
Communities & grassroots organizations have asked SalvAide for international observers to guarantee transparent elections for several reasons:
• To observe and provide witness to the electoral process and to potential violations of the electoral code before and during the elections.
• To provide a presence in order to diminish political intimidation and violence.
• To call for implementation of election reforms, including residential voting, to guarantee a transparent process and participation.
- Spanish fluency is not required for election observers.
- Election observers learn about Salvadoran reality, learn about the communities in which they will observe and make an important contribution to free and fair elections.
Delegation Dates:
Delegation 1: January 11 – 20, 2009
Mayoral and Legislative Assembly Elections
Delegation 2: March 8 – 17, 2009
Presidential Election
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Please Help support salvaide’s Elections delegation by:
1. Participating as an observer in either January or March 2009 (dates listed above). SalvAide will be relying on volunteers to help out with the electoral cycle of 2009.
Be an International Observer: In 2009, there will be two SalvAide Elections Delegation Observer missions. The first will be from January 11- 29, 2009, and will observe the Mayoral and Legislative Elections. The second will be from March 8 -17, 2009 and will observe the Presidential elections.
You will receive observation training, orientation to the municipality where you will observe, observer credentials and information about the current situation in El Salvador from human rights officials, representatives of Salvadoran civil society, and with the political parties involved in the elections. Interpreters will be present with each group of observers and Spanish is not a requirement. Volunteer and help set up the SalvAide Elections Delegation!
Please complete and return the application to SalvAide:
c/o Noemie Giguere
SalvAide
219 Argyle Ave. Suite 411
Ottawa, Ontario, K2P 2H4 or by email to salvaide@web.net
Application Deadlines:
November 14th, 2008 (for January Delegation)
January 20th, 2009 (for March Delegation).
Please contact Noemie Giguere if you have any questions or need clarification.
Tel. (613) 233-6215 or at salvaide@web.net
The participation cost will be $2000, which will include plane ticket, coordination, translation, observer training, receptions, local transportation, food and housing.
 Click here for the application form
2. Send a donation to “SalvAide’s Fund for Democratic Participation”, which includes finances for activities concerning participation and transportation for voter turn-out.
Please donate to "SalvAide’s Fund for Democratic Participation"!
SalvAide needs funds to be able to monitor the elections process!
We are requesting that organizations and individuals consider giving a contribution which includes
finances for activities concerning participation and transportation for voter turn-out.
This fund will also be used in a non-partisan manner to mobilize voters in rural areas to the polls, some of whom
have to
walk up to 15 kilometers to get to polling station or sacrifice a day's wages for transportation to vote in just one of the elections!
Tax deductible donations can be made to: “SalvAide’s Fund for Democratic Participation”
Donations can be made on-line:  or
Cheques can be made payable to SalvAide and mailed to:
SalvAide
219 Argyle Avenue, Suite 411
Ottawa, Ontario, K2P 2H4
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Background & Current Situation
Each election cycle presents a different set of challenges, and the upcoming 2009 elections will be no different. Already the rightwing legislature has implemented obstacles to a fair process and there are serious threats to the rights of civil society to seek change (see below). It is less than a year until the 2009 elections, and we are inviting your participation and support. This election cycle will be hotly contested, as civil society and the FMLN have united behind Mauricio Funes, the FMLN candidate for President. There are currently numerous ARENA candidates vying to represent the party in power, and the smaller parties are maneuvering for space. Your help is important to encourage a free and fair choice for the Salvadoran electorate. The SalvAdie Elections Delegations conform to the principles set forth by the Carter Center.
"To be effective, election-monitoring missions should begin long before Election Day, be invited by a country's national authorities and be welcomed by the major political parties. Observers analyze election laws, assess voter education and registration processes, and evaluate fairness in campaigns. The presence of impartial election observers deters interference or fraud in the voting process, and reassures voters that they can safely and secretly cast their ballots and that vote tabulation will be conducted without tampering."
(From The Carter Center Democracy Program, www.cartercenter.org)
The presence of International Observers and the ability of SalvAide to monitor the entire electoral process from the campaign through the vote and vote count and subsequent reports on the process, has encouraged reforms that support the movement toward a true democracy in El Salvador. For example, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal redesigned the voting booth to attempt to guarantee a secret vote and has begun to implement a pilot program of residential voting.
Municipal and national assembly elections are held every 3 years and presidential elections every 5 years; every 15 years they fall on the same date. In 2009 elections for every public office will be held - Municipal, Legislative and Presidential. The rightwing parties that control the process have thrown up a roadblock by splitting the election into two different election days: January 18 and March 15, 2009. This doubles the effort and the expense of elections both for tax payers and political parties and diminishes the ability of opposition parties, which have smaller campaign budgets, to compete on a level playing field.
Other reforms that were passed in the Legislative Assembly in December 2007 take away safeguards for free and fair elections. For example, the ballot will no longer be signed or stamped at the voting table to guarantee its validity. Additionally, there will be 3 right wing political parties and three left political parties participating in the 2009 elections. Previously, all parties could have a representative at the table or there was a lottery, but a reform passed in December guarantees a seat at each and every voting table for all 3 right wing parties and only two of the three left parties, where decisions are made as to the validity of a vote.
Civil rights are in jeopardy for the first time since the signing of the Peace Accords.
Legal protests against water privatization provoked the unwarranted arrest of activists in July 2007.
"For a nation to claim it is democratic, at some point there needs to be a change of government, an alternability of power.
Elections are the vehicle in modern democracies that are intended to reflect the will of the people and promote equality in opportunity, and movement toward economic and social justice."
It is important to accompany a fair, honest and nonviolent electoral process in
El Salvador in order to allow the maximum opportunity for the elections of 2009 to demonstrate the will of the majority of the people of El Salvador.
In the name of true justice and true democracy we will raise our voices and take action in defense of the Salvadoran people’s right to determine their own fate.
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¡NACE LA ESPERANZA, VIENE EL CAMBIO!
¡Cambio en El Salvador para vivir mejor!
Thank you for your work and support or participation that you can offer our program.
We look forward to hearing from you.
"Peace is not the product of terror or fear.
Peace is not the silence of cemeteries.
Peace is not the silent result of violent repression.
Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution of all to the good of all.
Peace is dynamism. Peace is generosity.
It is right and it is duty."
- Oscar Romero
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