On Friday, our message concentrated on election observation. We continue that information today. On Saturday, our delegation visited the campaign headquarters of the major parties and also had an excellent conversation with the former ES Ambassador to the United States. He is a brillant and perceptive man who provided insight for us into his country and its hopes and fears. He is a true diplomat.
We also went to the polling sites where each of us would be working on Sunday so we could have a feel of the environment. As mentioned, we were assigned to city precincts. Our site (David & Nancy) was the fair and convention grounds, a larger facility with many buildings. Our building had 160 voting divisions with 450 ballots in each. The word division applies well because while it is not technically correct, it reveals an aspect of power and control. People cannot vote where they live - they must travel to places according to their last name. The husband and wife have two different last names, so they might have to go to the A place for one and the R place for the other. This requires transportation which is not always available and on a day when the city is congested with thick and slow moving traffic, it is almost impossible for both to vote. The Ambassador commented on this situation: for him and his wife, it is annoying but they can do it because they have a car and a driver and the time. Others do not have that privilege. He believes effective voting will not change until there is municipal/local voting.
We arrived at the fair park at 6:00 to witness the setting up of the voting tables. The polls opened late at 7:23 instead of 7:00 and thousands of waiting people poured in to find their poll table at which to vote. David calculated that 7,000 stormed in in 8 minutes. It was a constant flow until 4:00. Polls closed at 5:00 and closure of table documents and counting of ballots began. To our eyes, the stacks of ballots looked very similar for Arena, the power party, and FMLN, the opposition and peoples party. It was difficult to judge who the winner would be.
The other observers in our delegation were in 3 different city locations. Each reported that their polls opened late and were also a center of crowded activity, noise, heat, and political tension. While it is illegal to campaign on Saturday and Sunday, rallies continued both inside and outside the voting facilities throughout the country. It is also illegal to purchase alcohol from Friday through Monday of the election weekend, so those who know (not us ! ) stock up before.
The results this morning were surprising in one sense yet not in another. The well-oiled machine won the election and the big change for the country will not be happening. This has serious impact on our Rotary project as the new mayor of Nejapa is Arena, and not supportive of improvments for the life of the people. We do not anticipate him supporting completion of the project with provison of heavy equipment, lodging for the students, and staff members loaned to assist in many ways. Many of the FMLN staff people will now be losing their jobs and we can only imagine other ramifications. We will need to meet with the new mayor after he is installed in May to begin to develop a relationship with him.
A prayer request for all: on Saturday evening, one of our team members, Tim, fell and seriously broke his leg. He had surgery Saturday night, should be coming back to the Casa today with expectations of returning to the US tomorrow. Home will be the best place for him but travel is going to be very difficult. Needless to say, he is in much pain. Please uplift him all the way and the two women who will be travelling with him.
We must close now. You will hear from us again tomorrow.
D & N
We also went to the polling sites where each of us would be working on Sunday so we could have a feel of the environment. As mentioned, we were assigned to city precincts. Our site (David & Nancy) was the fair and convention grounds, a larger facility with many buildings. Our building had 160 voting divisions with 450 ballots in each. The word division applies well because while it is not technically correct, it reveals an aspect of power and control. People cannot vote where they live - they must travel to places according to their last name. The husband and wife have two different last names, so they might have to go to the A place for one and the R place for the other. This requires transportation which is not always available and on a day when the city is congested with thick and slow moving traffic, it is almost impossible for both to vote. The Ambassador commented on this situation: for him and his wife, it is annoying but they can do it because they have a car and a driver and the time. Others do not have that privilege. He believes effective voting will not change until there is municipal/local voting.
We arrived at the fair park at 6:00 to witness the setting up of the voting tables. The polls opened late at 7:23 instead of 7:00 and thousands of waiting people poured in to find their poll table at which to vote. David calculated that 7,000 stormed in in 8 minutes. It was a constant flow until 4:00. Polls closed at 5:00 and closure of table documents and counting of ballots began. To our eyes, the stacks of ballots looked very similar for Arena, the power party, and FMLN, the opposition and peoples party. It was difficult to judge who the winner would be.
The other observers in our delegation were in 3 different city locations. Each reported that their polls opened late and were also a center of crowded activity, noise, heat, and political tension. While it is illegal to campaign on Saturday and Sunday, rallies continued both inside and outside the voting facilities throughout the country. It is also illegal to purchase alcohol from Friday through Monday of the election weekend, so those who know (not us ! ) stock up before.
The results this morning were surprising in one sense yet not in another. The well-oiled machine won the election and the big change for the country will not be happening. This has serious impact on our Rotary project as the new mayor of Nejapa is Arena, and not supportive of improvments for the life of the people. We do not anticipate him supporting completion of the project with provison of heavy equipment, lodging for the students, and staff members loaned to assist in many ways. Many of the FMLN staff people will now be losing their jobs and we can only imagine other ramifications. We will need to meet with the new mayor after he is installed in May to begin to develop a relationship with him.
A prayer request for all: on Saturday evening, one of our team members, Tim, fell and seriously broke his leg. He had surgery Saturday night, should be coming back to the Casa today with expectations of returning to the US tomorrow. Home will be the best place for him but travel is going to be very difficult. Needless to say, he is in much pain. Please uplift him all the way and the two women who will be travelling with him.
We must close now. You will hear from us again tomorrow.
D & N
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