certainly victory D'Aubuisson's fascist defeat for the Christian President Duarte. The Salvador government.
with the objective support United against the revolutionary Farabundo But this gigantic stunt was a failure, if internanonal recognition and support was the objective.
All parties standing in the elections were required of 20,000 names and addresses supporters to the authorities. ror ine fell to nave stood the would have been to hand over a massive hit list to ine acaln souads In any case, electoral fraud is the stock-in-trade of the military rulers of El Salvador. In civil war conditions the holding of elections was a farce.
The elections, far from showing El Salvador to be lighted 'democracv' onlv highthe repressive Coaracted ot the regime. During the election campaign tour Dutch nalists from the religious were murdered, probably by the National Guard.
Before and during the the demonstrated its ability to launch attacks wherever they wanted, including in the heart of the capital San Western government gave any 1csltion to the elections was the wretched Thatcher government, one of only eight out of sixty-eight governments asked to send observers.
The only success for the regime and the United States was the numbers wild votcu — one million. A number of factors explain this higher than expected turnout. First, the large and relatively prosperous middle classes in the towns turned out en masse. They WITH most of the returns in, the result of El Salvador's much vaunted elections is almost for Major Roberto ARENA party and a Democrats led by had been It was a gigantic public relations exercise, of winning international States' war effort guerrillas of the Marti National Liberation Front see the revolutionaries as a threat to their position, and formed the mass base support for D'Aubuisson.
Since voting is compulsory and identity cards are stamped 'has voted' urban LUVI feared reprisals if they did not vote. In the countryside the peasants can expect a nicasue protechon from the FMLN, but in the LOWITS the ICUI COSIUlI fierce, and there is virtualno defence against the death squads.
It was asking a lot of the workers in the towns to boycott the ballot. Even so those voting spoilt their more than 12 per cent ballot countryside and even SULLIC the military aCLIOl and bovcott call disrupted the election completely.
I ne outcome is almost certainly the demise Duarte. The Christian Democra In Lne junta have in any case always •centre captives of the military, and in particular of defence minister Jose Garcia.
When Sunday David Blundy was interviewing Duarte a right wing officer came into Duarters chair tee Duarte's chair. character of the military who run the regime, and their relationship Duarte is excellently summarised by this anecdote. Duarte will in all bability now just pack his bags and leave the country.
For the United States, D'Aubuisson awkward figure. Cashiered from the army deported from the United States, leader of the death squads and responsible for the murder of Archbishop Romero, who spoke out for the poor and against the repression, D'Aubuisson is SOIL of figure wno me United States can parade as a democrat.
The plan proposed by US ambassador Deans Hurton is that a new threeperson junta will be formed including two Generals and one civilian, but not including D'Aubuisson.
Generals will include Videz Cassano, head LIC in chers. D'Aubuisson could then be the leader Constituent Assembly, the alliance the of Icaucts If the United States at least for the time goes along with this arrangement, the result of the war. D'Aubuisson is Times prothe army being can Whatever the outcome of the elections, El Salvadoran army was the victor Socialist Challenge
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prepared for more than a year, with the inten- tion of giving a 'democratic' facade to the El