Caribbean & Central America - December 2012 (ISSN 1741-4458)

It is not everyday that voting on a budget turns so acrimonious that it changes the balance of power in congress. But that is what happened in El Salvador on 8 November. The main opposition Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (Arena) was plunged into disarray after four of its deputies voted in favour of the government’s budget for 2013. The leadership committee promptly expelled the deputies who refused to toe the party line – abstention - with the result that the left-wing Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberaciόn Nacional (FMLN) is now the largest party in congress.

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