María Eugenia Vidal to lead OAS mission to observe elections in El Salvador

The Organization of American States (OAS) formalized this Friday with the government of El Salvador the sending of an Election Observation Mission (EOM) to the legislative, municipal and Central American elections (Parlacen) of February 28. OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro, appointed the former governor of the province of Buenos Aires Maria Eugenia Vidal as the head of the mission.

The delegation will be made up of 21 people, including 11 women and 10 men. Of the observers, 16 will work in person and 5 virtually. Members of the Mission will meet with electoral and government authorities, political leaders, candidates and representatives of civil society and academia, among others.

The Interim Representative of El Salvador to the OAS, Wendy Acevedo, stressed that the presence of the Mission is a guarantee for the holding of the elections. “For the government of the President Here to watch hold elections free, fair, transparent, that they have the observation international, Independent Yes credible These are essential elements to ensure that the will of the people is respected and that democracy is strengthened in El Salvador and the region, ”said Acevedo.

The An election observation mission will be present in the five departments with the largest electorate in the country Central America: San Salvador, La Libertad, Santa Ana, San Miguel and Sonsonate, which concentrate the 63.4% of the electoral population.

During the signing ceremony, Secretary General Almagro recalled that this is the 16th observation mission that the OAS will deploy to El Salvador. “These data reflect, on the one hand, El Salvador’s desire to have better elections. And on the other, our commitment to strengthen democratic institutions in the country and in the Americas, ”he said.

As explained by the OAS, the mission is possible thanks to the contributions of Italy, France, Canada, United States, South Korea and Dominican Republic. Observers will present a final report to the Permanent Council a few weeks after election day.

In early February, the Supreme Electoral Court of El Salvador asked the UN, the European Union and the OAS to send their observers for the legislative and municipal elections on the 28th, after a series of acts of violence recorded during the campaign.

The request of the highest electoral court came after an attack on Sunday against activists of the opposition and the former Farabundo Martí guerrillas of the National Liberation Front (FMLN) which left two dead.

The event occurred a few days after the president Here to watch criticize the Peace agreements signed between the army and the guerrillas of the time to end the civil war in 1992.

In the attack, a state agent assigned to the protection of important persons (PPI), a driver and a private security officer were involved, as the alleged aggressor, all under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Public Health . They are all detained.

The electoral authority also called on party members to avoid acts of political violence and urged “the respect»To the adversaries so that the electoral race takes place in a climate of peace.

In the elections, some 5.4 million Salvadorans will have to elect the 84 legislators of the unicameral Congress, as well as the country’s 262 mayors and their municipal councils. They will also have to choose around twenty members of the Central American Parliament (Parlacen), a political institution dedicated to the integration of the countries of the region.

I continued to read:

TSE says audit of El Salvador counting system has not been approved