Electoral Update: Anti-Communist Throwbacks vs. Massive Mobilizations in Campaign Launches

News

Wednesday, October 2 marked the official opening of campaign season for the upcoming February 2014 presidential elections in El Salvador. As the leftist Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) party once again demonstrated its immense mobilizing power with a massive nation-wide “Victory Caravan,” the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) party launched its campaign with a celebration of the nation’s historic right wing’s fascist roots. The “Victory Caravan” wound across western and eastern regions of the country, with reports of up to 10,000 vehicles transporting 300,000 participants. FMLN presidential candidate Salvador Sánchez Cerén and his running mate, Oscar Ortiz, paused for rallies in various towns along the caravan route. The candidates were trailed by an unending stream of flag-covered vehicles overflowing with red-clad supporters along highways lined with cheering residents who gathered on the roadside to greet the caravan as it passed through their communities.

ARENA launched its campaign at the site of the 1932 massacre photo: Milton Flores ARENA launched its campaign at the site of the 1932 massacre
photo: Milton Flores
The right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) party inaugurated the campaign as it does every year, in the western town of Izalco, the site of some of the worst repression during the infamous 1932 military massacre that destroyed a popular peasant and communist-led uprising. “We return to Izalco as a symbol that we Areneros will never, ever allow the imposition of communist, socialist or what is now called 21st century socialist projects in El Salvador,” said ARENA president Jorge Velado. That day, President Mauricio Funes criticized the party’s tradition of launching their campaigns at the scene of the historic atrocity, saying that, “ARENA should be ashamed.” Former ARENA president Tony Saca launched his campaign with the right-wing UNITY coalition at a rally in his native Usulután. Saca is the only candidate who has yet to announce a running mate. With the elections now four months away, the latest poll data shows Salvador Sánchez Cerén leading with 30.4%, with Tony Saca and Norman Quijano nearly tied behind him at 25.5% and 25.2%, respectively. The numbers confirm Norman Quijano’s steady decline in public opinion and evidence Saca’s ongoing rise in popularity, with Sánchez Cerén holding steady. Click HERE for information on our 2014 Elections Observation Delegation!

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