Salvadorans hold second post-war presidential vote

CNN March 7, 1999 Salvadorans hold second post-war presidential vote

                  SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (Reuters) -- Salvadorans voted for
                  president on Sunday, choosing between a former leftist guerrilla commander
                  and a moderate from the country's ruling right-wing party in elections marked
                  by voter apathy.

                  "Turnout is even lower than we expected," said Zuleyna de Garcia of the
                  electoral tribunal. Surveys prior to the vote showed at least 50 percent of El
                  Salvador's 3.04 million registered voters might stay away from the polls.

The apathy occurred even though candidates urged citizens to vote in only
the second balloting since peace accords ended a 13-year civil war in 1992.

                  "The future of your family and children is in your hands," Facundo , 44, an
                  ex-guerrilla commander running on the Farabundo Marti National Liberation
                  Front ticket, said on national television at midday.

                  The group, known as the FMLN after its Spanish initials, converted itself
                  from rebel army to a political party after laying down its guns under the
                  peace accords.

                  Some 75,000 were killed in the conflict that pitted guerrillas and supporters
                  of the now-ruling National Republican Alliance (ARENA), itself with roots in
                  right-wing death squads, against each other.

                 But both leading candidates are considered moderates, offering programs to
                 fight crime and create jobs in a nation of 6 million people where unemployment
                 is estimated at 40 percent.

                  A low turnout would likely hurt front-runner Francisco Flores, of ARENA,
                  and prevent him from winning the simple majority needed to avoid a runoff
                  election in April, analysts said.

                  Opinion polls showed Flores, 39, leading by 17 to 24 percentage points
                  over Guardado, his nearest competitor. Five other parties fielded
                  presidential and vice presidential candidates.

Guardado: Rain seen as good omen

Guardado predicted an upset.

"We're going to win," he said. "It rained out of season last night, and that's a
positive sign from heaven."

The winner will take office in June and serve until 2004.

                  Despite low turnout, a carnival atmosphere pervaded San Salvador's largest
                  polling center, with vendors hawking hair ribbons and Styrofoam airplanes
                  emblazoned with party insignia. Free buses carried many voters to and from
                  polling places.

                  "I had a heart attack in June and I'm waiting for the next one in order to take
                  my leave of this world, so I'm voting on behalf of my grandchildren, 14 of
                  them," said Ana Maria Menendez, 75, an ARENA supporter.

Luisa Amelida, 30, an FMLN volunteer, was unfazed by predictions of her
party's defeat.

"We won't worry if we lose now, because we'll keep struggling until it's our
turn to take power," she said.

Flores, a former congressional president who was educated in the United
States and Britain, has distanced himself from the ARENA of the past.

                  The party was founded by Roberto D'Aubuisson, who was widely accused
                  of running the death squads that murdered thousands of suspected leftists
                  during the war. D'Aubuisson died shortly after the signing of the 1992 peace
                  accords.

"This is a new generation," Flores told reporters before casting his vote. "It's
a new way of working, a system based on merit rather than privilege."

                  In the divided legislature, he gained a reputation as a conciliatory voice in
                  negotiations between hard-line members of his party and opposition
                  legislators, among them the FMLN.

                  Guardado said he has abandoned his former goal of establishing a socialist
                  state in El Salvador. As a result, some hard-liners have dubbed him a traitor
                  and a reactionary.

                  Despite the FMLN's strong showing in 1997 municipal and legislative
                  elections, many voters still question the former rebel group's credentials for
                  governing, analysts said.