Six Veterans for Peace members joined Centro de Intercambio y Solidaridad (CIS) as International Observers in El Salvador's Feb. 2, 2014 Presidential Election. The FMLN party received 49% of the vote, ARENA 39%, and UNIDAD 11%. Since no party received over 50%, a runoff election will be held March 9th pairing off the FMLN candidate, Salvador Sanchez Ceren, a former Marxist guerrilla leader during the 1980-1992 civil war, and Norman Quijano of the conservative ARENA party.
VFP members John Chadwick, Mike Tork, Lorna VanderZanden, Peter Berres and Steve Boyer observed the election from several different sites in the country, returning to San Salvador for a CIS press conference on Feb. 4. The press release stated:
"The CIS carried out its 10th International Election Observation Mission in El Salvador, with 90 observers from 13 countries. We observed in 7 departments in 14 large, medium and small municipalities governed by different parties. We also observed in the voting center for Salvadorans Abroad.... It was the most efficient and transparent process that we have observed in the last 20 years. It was also the least tense."
Submitted by Lorna VanderZanden