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OAS/EOM in El Salvador Recommends New Comprehensive Legislation on Political Parties and Campaigns

The Electoral Observation Mission (EOM) of the Organization of American States (OAS) to the March 11 Elections in El Salvador recommended today in front of the Organization’s Permanent Council that the Central American country design new legislation on political parties and campaigns in order to ensure maximum levels of rigor and transparency in future elections.

The Chief of Mission, Peruvian politician Lourdes Flores Nano, congratulated “all stakeholders involved in the process, and particularly the Salvadorian political parties and their affiliates, who through their participation and commitment have shown that national political parties are organized and have deep roots.” Lourdes Flores also acknowledged the work carried out by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal of El Salvador in organizing last month’s he National Congress and Mayoral elections.

OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza highlighted the celerity with which the report was presented, and emphasized that the document confirms a trend in the region in recent years: “Our electoral systems can certainly be improved and perfected, but generally speaking they work very well.” The head of the OAS expressed his “satisfaction” on the work carried out by Chief of Mission Flores Nano. “It makes me very happy that you have fulfilled this mission with us, and that you have honored the name of our organization.”

The EOM report says that the electoral process was supported by “an electoral reform developed in a rushed and incomplete way,” therefore making it “urgent and indispensable for Salvadorian democracy that new legislation be devised regulating political parties and campaigns.”

Flores Nano explained it is particularly necessary “to legislate on the field of political parties, including rules to guarantee internal democracy within the parties”; “passing legislation with affirmative action measures in order to grant women access to elected offices”; “to establish rules regulating public and private financing of parties”; “to establish the need for political parties to be accountable on campaign financing”; “to create the appropriate mechanisms to guarantee citizen access to information on this matter”; and “to improve control mechanisms to avoid candidates that hold office using public funds to finance their political campaigns.”

The EOM headed by the former Peruvian presidential candidate was composed by 23 experts (57 percent men, 43 percent women) from 13 OAS Member and Observer States. They were deployed in all 14 Salvadorian Departments between March 7 and 14.

During the regular session, the OAS Permanent Council observed a minute of silence and passed a declaration expressing its “profound sorrow” on the passing last weekend of former Mexican President Miguel de la Madrid, “a great loss” for his country for which the body “conveys its condolences to his family and to the people and Government of Mexico”.

The resolution (available here) stresses the “key role” played by the Mexican President between 1982 and 1988 “in the economic liberalization of his country; his contribution to the pacification of Central America as a member of the Contadora Group, which paved the way for the agreements reached; not to mention his contribution to the advancement of reading in Spanish and his efforts to disseminate Latin American culture.”

The Permanent Council also received from the OAS General Secretariat the "Draft Code of Ethics for the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States", and decided to refer it to the Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Affairs.

The Council also remembered the anniversary of the start of the Malvinas War, thirty years ago to the day. The Interim Representative of Argentina to the OAS, Martín Gómez Bustillo, reiterated the “rights of Argentine sovereignty over the Malvinas, South Georgia and Sandwich Islands and surrounding maritime spaces”, called to “honor all fallen in that war” and lamented the sovereignty issue is yet to be resolved due “to the reluctance by the United Kingdom to sit down to negotiate the issue, despite several calls from the international community in favor of a definitive solution.” Several Permanent Representatives expressed their solidarity with the people and Government of Argentina, including Secretary General Insulza, who also mentioned “the unanimity that exists within our region to request a negotiated and diplomatic solution to this situation that remains unsolved.”

The OAS body also welcomed the new Permanent Representative of Colombia, Andrés González Díaz and bid farewell to the representative of Guatemala, Jorge Skinner-Klee. The Permanent Representative of Honduras to the Organization, Leónidas Rosa Bautista, chaired his first regular session hours after assuming the rotating chairmanship.

A gallery of photos of the event will be available here.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-115/12