Jorge Schafik’s voting district in Los Lencas suffered intimidations today by ARENA party affiliates allegedly attempting to sequester ballots in this FMLN stronghold in the Colonia Costa Rica in the capitol, San Salvador. A document leaked today indicates that the ARENA party has targeted specific polling stations near the capitol where they will send out ‘shock brigades’ with the intention to create an atmosphere of indimidation and confusion, presumably to suppress voter turnout, should results not tend in its favor. http://www.fmln.org.sv/oficial/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=35&Itemid=70
Fortunately, the ballots had not yet arrived at the polling station, and civilian police agents arrived on the scene two hours before the ballots did. One wonders why ARENA candidate Norman Quijanos would feel so insecure, given that he has at least a 25% lead in the polls.
The choice of the Los Lencas site as a polling station was not favoured by opposing candidate Schafik, since it is in the open-air, and therefore more vulnerable to subterfuge, especially during the long and complex counting process set to begin at 5pm and last throughout the night. When our delegation toured potential sites at which to observe this evening, the head TSE data transmission officer recounted to us the fracas that took place in the early morning hours.
On the plus side, Nobel Laureate Rigoberta Menchu will be leading a delegation of observers from her institute in Guatemala, and where Ms. Menchu goes, a media circus is not far behind. Her presence will generate some much-needed international media coverage of these elections. Other international observation missions include delegates from Nicaragua, Venezuela and Palestine (led by the Palestinian Ambassador to El Salvador).
The polls are set to open at 5am, and national and international observers will be there to greet the sunrise and potential dirty tricks.
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