Caribbean & Central America - April 2006 (ISSN 1741-4458)

The closely contested elections for mayor of San Salvador went to the wire with Violeta Menjí­var, the candidate for the opposition Frente Farabundo Martí­ para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN) beating Rodrigo Samayoa, of the ruling Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (Arena), by just 44 votes. 

The supreme electoral tribunal took four days to announce the final result after carrying out a recount. Menjí­var, 54, is the first female mayor of San Salvador. She graduated in medicine from the state Universidad de El Salvador but her father had to collect her degree as she was in the field with FMLN guerrillas coordinating the medical team. Her brother Ernesto was shot by a death squad in 1979. President Tony Saca congratulated Menjí­var on her victory as did Samayoa. 

FMLN exceeds expectations

The FMLN can now see the legislative elections of 12 March as a major success. Not only did the party cling on to San Salvador, by far the most important alcaldí­a, for the third consecutive time but it also returned 32 deputies to the national legislative assembly, one more than its previous best performance in 2003. Arena won 34 seats (seven more than 2003) but while it should be able to obtain a simple majority of 43 through the support of the right-wing Partido de Conciliación Nacional which won 10 seats, the FMLN will be able to veto major pieces of legislation that require an absolute majority of 56 (see RC-06-03).

San Salvador's prestigious Universidad Centroamericana (UCA) warned on 21 March that the failure of any one party to obtain a majority in the legislative assembly could lead to greater political polarisation in El Salvador. The UCA, a Jesuit-run institution, said that while both parties are talking of the need for dialogue and consensus they both know in advance that they will reject the other's overtures. It warned that this attitude would lead to "legislative stagnation, more polarisation and more weakness".

The prospects for consensus look bleak. On 20 March President Saca struggled to conceal his annoyance at an agreement reached by mayors representing the FMLN with Venezuela, under which the Venezuelan state-owned oil company Pdvsa will provide diesel and petrol to FMLN mayors at preferential rates.