El Salvador’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) announced on Monday that the preliminary count of votes in municipal and legislative elections would be skipped, due to system error.
On Sunday, Salvadoran citizens voted for all 84 seats in Congress, 262 mayors, approximately 3,000 municipal council members, and 20 representatives for the Central American Parliament. It was the first time that voters were allowed to choose individual candidates from different political parties instead of having to vote for one single party with a predetermined list of candidates.
The TSE confirmed yesterday that the initial count would not be disclosed, due to system failure experienced by the firm hired to digitize the results. They will instead continue straight to the final count, which will be conducted manually and could take 12 days. This election also marked the first time since the TSE was founded that the preliminary count is not made public.
Despite the fact that 60 observers from the OAS were present to monitor the elections, citizens are concerned about potential fraud. According to a representative from the Junta de Vigilancia Electoral (Electoral Vigilance Board—JVE), the situation “generates an atmosphere of unease, insecurity, of worry and distrust, not having a base that is showing us how the results of the election are developing.”
The legislative elections are highly divisive, with the Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (National Republican Alliance—ARENA) and the ruling Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberacion Nacional (Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front—FMLN) fighting for congressional seats. With the elections, President Salvador Sánchez Cerén hopes to gain wider support in his endeavors to combat gang violence in the country.
