Last day of the campaign

Today is the last day El Salvador's political parties are permitted to campaign prior to the presidential election on Sunday.

Greg from the SHARE Foundation, sent me this note:

As the SHARE Foundation prepares to guide International Observers, mostly from all over the United States, the propaganda has taken over the streets of San Salvador. Just from my first few days back in the country since 2007, there have been more electricity poles splashed with FMLN red and white masking the blue of ARENA. This technique actually making it pink and white, which is just more symbolism of the desperate campaigning techniques of both sides. There are no laws or boundaries of respect for campaign materials. ARENA clearly has more money for campaigning in San Salvador taking more space than the FMLN on the radio.

The anxiety and energy are felt everywhere, either in the grocery story or a pupuseria. There are multiple stories in Diario de Hoy or Prensa Graffica trying to smear the FMLN campaign. It is fairly obvious which party has been in control for the last 20 years. Every Salvadoran has a strong opinion of the election from the taxi driver to the woman making a pupusa. Political marches wake you up in the morning and by the afternoon you have seen 10 trucks with political paraphernalia all over them.

It is five days from the election and it seems like campaigning will not lighten up. It will be interesting to see what the final campaign attempts will be.

You can see photos of FMLN activists putting up campaign ads at Adam Kufeld's website El Salvador Elections 2009. (Check the March 6 photo gallery). Adam is the photographer behind the book El Salvador which features his photography from the country during the 1980s. He is photo and video blogging this week to cover the elections.