By Lara Pullin
The left-wing FMLN (Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front) won a resounding victory in March 12 legislative and municipal elections in El Salvador.
The win is the FMLN's most significant political gain since the signing of the UN-sponsored peace accords, which ended 10 years of brutal civil war in 1992. In addition to gaining a majority in the parliament, the FMLN now governs the most important cities throughout the country.
The 84-seat national parliament is now made up of 31 FMLN representatives (up from 27) and 29 right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) representatives (no change), with four smaller parties holding the remaining 24 seats. One of these, the ultra-right National Reconciliation Party (PCN), holds 14 seats.
The mayor of San Salvador, the FMLN's Hector de Silva, was returned with more than 56% of the primary vote. The mayoralty of the national capital is considered one of the most important political power bases in the country and is the traditional indicator of who will win the next presidential vote.
Upon re-election, de Silva said, "This win opens the door for us to take on the president and private enterprise, and continue the tasks of reclaiming and developing our city".
The FMLN won 12 of the 19 municipalities in San Salvador. It also won in eight of the 14 major provincial capitals and the left now has outright government in more than 70 of El Salvador's 256 municipalities. The 70 areas governed by the left are the most densely populated and economically important.
The integrity of El Salvador's electoral process has been questioned at each election since the 1992 accords. Initial reports, however, suggest that this election reflected the constant work by the FMLN to stamp out the "ghosts" of El Salvador — the voting dead — and other such practices. Voter participation remained low: initial reports are that about 38% of eligible voters cast a vote, the same proportion as in 1997.
The FMLN are aware that while its working-class and peasant members and supporters are solidly behind the party, there is much to be done still to regain the confidence of many militants who were suspicious of the terms of the peace accords.
In the first post-peace election in 1994, the FMLN gained 21 seats in the national parliament, to ARENA's 32. Both parties' presidential candidates won through to the second round, which ARENA's candidate, Armando Calderon Sol, won in a particularly dirty election campaign.
The 1994 result sparked a crisis within the FMLN and seven deputies deserted the party on the first day of parliament to form the "moderate" Democratic Party.
The March 12 win is a product of the FMLN's tighter program and greater political cohesion, forged by its activity in the working class and the rebuilding of peasant and popular groups. It is also a resounding rejection of ARENA's privatisation drive. One of El Salvador's longest public sector strikes occurred during the election campaign.
Shafick Handal, the FMLN's leader throughout the civil war, told the El Pais newspaper, "Our citizens have spoken — government of the left! It is without doubt our most significant triumph since we won the end of the civil war." Handal is now the strongest contender for the position of speaker in the Congress.