The other candidates

Despite the space given to covering ARENA and the FMLN in El Salvador's presidential election, there are two other candidates running for president under the banner of two of El Salvador's smaller political parties.

Carlos Rivas Zamora is the candidate of the Christian Democratic Party (PDC). Zamora was the popular mayor of San Salvador from 2003-2006. Zamora quit the FMLN in 2005 in disputes with the hard-line leadership of the FMLN. He ran as a center-left coalition candidate for mayor in 2006 against Violeta Menjivar, and his candidacy almost cost the FMLN the election. Zamora follows the path of Hector Silva, another former mayor of San Salvador kicked out of the FMLN in a dispute with hard-liners, who ran as a center-left candidate for president in 2004, losing to Tony Saca.

Jose Tomas Chevez is the candidate of the Party of National Conciliation (PCN). He is a banker and a pastor at the enormous evangelical ELIM church in San Salvador. I am unaware of prior political involvement by Chevez.