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Salvadoran Presidential Election, 2004




A presidential election was held in El Salvador on Sunday, 21 March 2004 . The Salvadoran people elected a new president, together with his vice-president, for a five-year term.

Antonio "Tony" Saca of the ARENA party won the election. El Salvador's constitution provides for a second-round runoff vote in the event that no candidate secures an absolute majority; however, Saca's 57% share of the vote meant that the second round, scheduled for 2 May , would not take place.


CANDIDATES


There were two front-running candidates:

  • Schafik Handal of the opposition Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN). Handal sought to capitalize on discontent over slow economic growth, increasing crime, and income disparities between the poor and the tiny elite. He pledged to raise the tax burden on the rich and to re-establish diplomatic relations with Cuba .


There were also two additional candidates. However, pre-vote opinion polls consistently placed both of them far behind the two leaders:


The election was monitored by 270 international observers and El Salvador's own ''Tribunal Supremo Electoral'', an institution created in 1992 to reform and validate the country's electoral system. Some 17,000 police were on security duty during the election.


RESULTS


The election had a 67% turn-out (or 3.4 million voters), the highest in Salvadoran history. The ''Tribunal Supremo Electoral'' confirmed Saca as the winner on Monday 22 March .

Handal recognized Tony Saca's victory, but chose not to congratulate him. Saca announced his intention to seek reconciliation with the opposition FMLN, in an effort to heal old divisions from the Country's Violent Past .

Saca selected Ana Vilma De Escobar to be his vice-president. She was previously the director of the Salvadoran Social Security Institute (ISSS). The new government took office on 1 June 2004 .


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