The failing grades for the FMLN government
This weekend party members of the FMLN in El Salvador will vote in internal elections to choose a candidate for president in 2019. Their possible choices are Hugo Martinez, the foreign minister, or Gerson Martinez, the minister of public works. As the party makes its choice, the FMLN may want to reflect on the results of a recent poll by the UCA regarding Salvadorans' perceptions of the current president from the FMLN, Salvador Sánchez Cerén.
What comes through most strongly in the entire poll is a view that the current government has not accomplished anything to advance or transform the country. Salvadorans do not see that their lives have improved in the last 4 years. To be sure, this partly reflects the vigorous efforts of the conservative parties in the country to block any major initiatives of the FMLN. But it also reflects a failure of leadership and a failure of the FMLN to really connect with people outside of the hard core party faithful. The FMLN needs to address these failures quickly if it intends to have any relevance in the future.
Has the government of the FMLN fulfilled its campaign promises?
71.5% -- No.
How does Sánchez Cerén govern the country?
67.5% -- Badly
What is the principal achievement of Sánchez Cerén?
56.7% -- None
How has level of crime changed?
70.9% -- It has increased.
How has economy changed?Obviously these very negative perceptions of the current FMLN administration parallel the FMLN's major defeat in the national elections of last March. The poll would also indicate that whichever candidate is chosen by the party this weekend, he has little chance of winning the presidency.
69.3% -- It has gotten worse.
What comes through most strongly in the entire poll is a view that the current government has not accomplished anything to advance or transform the country. Salvadorans do not see that their lives have improved in the last 4 years. To be sure, this partly reflects the vigorous efforts of the conservative parties in the country to block any major initiatives of the FMLN. But it also reflects a failure of leadership and a failure of the FMLN to really connect with people outside of the hard core party faithful. The FMLN needs to address these failures quickly if it intends to have any relevance in the future.
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