Word: salvadors
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Over at the heavily guarded Central Election Council in San Salvador, the capital, Jorge Bustamante, the council chairman, is conducting polls on what kind of turnout can be expected when voters cast their ballots for delegates to a constituent assembly on March 28. He is hoping for 60% of the country's estimated 1 million to 1.5 million eligible voters. "This government is the product of a coup d'état, "he explains. "In order to go back to legality, we must have a new constitution...
Although the election is still more than three months away, the sudden surge in political activity is part of an all-out campaign by El Salvador's President Josó Napoleón Duarte and the ruling military-civilian junta to persuade Salvadorans to vote. The election, Duarte argues, is a step toward ending the savage civil war that is tearing the country apart and toward restoring the democratic process. Duarte, who is also leader of the centrist Christian Democratic Party, has the strong backing of the U.S. in calling the election. The tentative plan is for the constituent...
...March election has, however, come under sharp attack from some quarters. Leftist spokesmen argue that the operation of right-wing death squads, current military restrictions on civil liberties and a long history of electoral manipulation in El Salvador rule out any chance that the election could be fair and free. The left, of course, is not expected to put up any candidates, since they would almost certainly be murdered. El Salvador's neighbors are also divided about the election. The Organization of American States last week voted 22 to 3 to back the election and send observers if requested...
Washington is anxious to see an elected government installed in San Salvador, particularly since American aid is expected to rise to $173 million or more next year. "One of the things President Duarte attaches importance to is getting out of this transitional period," explains U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador Deane Hinton. "He feels if we don't have the support, we go." But that position poses grave risks, both for Duarte and the U.S., if his Christian Democratic Party loses the election. Some observers, in fact, fear that the election could turn out to be a "slow-motion right...
...simple majority or manage to form a coalition with any of four small parties of the far right, Duarte could be ousted as President, the Christian Democrats would lose the ministries they hold, and the U.S. would have sacrificed its best hope for ever restoring democracy in El Salvador...