FMLN candidate Menjivar finally declared winner
San Salvador finally has a new mayor. Violeta Menjivar, the candidate of the FMLN, became the first woman mayor of the capital city after the recount was concluded. The announcement came late last night after tense situations when FMLN activists marched on the Radisson Hotel in order to put pressure on election officials conducting the recount. Menjivar's margin of victory was a slim 61 votes.
Be sure and read the comments to this post, including discussion of the confrontation between police and FMLN demonstrators and a clear description of how votes are counted in a Salvadoran election.
Be sure and read the comments to this post, including discussion of the confrontation between police and FMLN demonstrators and a clear description of how votes are counted in a Salvadoran election.
Comments
Terry
No se tienen aqui muchas esperanzas.Despues de todas las irregularidades, que son denunciadas y no se hace nada.
Gracias a Dios, por lo menos, por lo menos, se tiene este, solamente este,resultado OFICIAL.
Rebeca Martell
Frank
impartial persons always present?
If the count has held firm after
recount, then Violetta is the
winner.
The cops were standing behind a barrier and the mob tried to remove the barrier and attacked the riot police!
Can people seriously suggest that the mob should have been allowed to continue, and possibly destroy the election records? Can you imagine the consequences of such an event, in any country? Florida ring a bell here?
Even bloggers sympathetic to FMLN are distraught at the violence (includes pictures):
http://soysalvadoreno.blogspot.com/2006/03/poltica-las-marchas-pacificas-del-fmln.html
Press reports, clearly stating that the mob attacked, and only dispersed when the Head of Police negotiated with three major FMLN leaders:
La Prensa Gráfica
http://www.laprensagrafica.com/especiales/2006/voto2006/noticias/444815.asp
El Diario de Hoy
http://www.elsalvador.com/especiales/2006/elecciones/noticias/nota319.asp
Having once counted votes myself, I can tell you exactly how it works.
Each poll booth in a poll location is manned by a citizen's committee. Each citizen has been nominated by a party. I have never been card-carrying, but was recruited by a friend. We all show up in the morning and draw lots to see what role each will perform, from acrediting voters to monitoring the line.
At the end of the day, the committee counts each vote. Each vote is considered valid, unless a committee member claims "hanging chads" or our equivalent. We use a crayon or marker on a piece of paper, not a punch machine, by the way. In the "hanging chad"-case, a vote is taken: allow/reject. Rejects are called "impugnado". The count is signed by all, and delivered to the Tribunal reps in the building. I found the process enourmously transparent, fair, and gratifying. I must say, also, we all got paid one day's minimum wages, in cash!
Each polling place submits location results to the Tribunal. The Tribunal tallies the national vote, and this is why you can have results as early as 9pm.
There is NO recounting of votes: i.e., the signatures of thousands and thousands of committee citizens who looked at each vote are considered better than any bureaucrat recounting somewhere. Democracy at its best.
However, if there should be close to a tie, and the number of impugnado/reject votes is larger than the candidate difference, then, and only then, can the Tribunal open the ballot boxes, and they will only analyze impugnado votes to try and discern voter intent. They are not allowed to re-count/re-assess votes that the citizen committees counted as valid. This is far superior to the Palm Beach County re-count processes, if you do not mind my saying so.
I hope I did not leave anything major out. Cheers!