Civil Society Leads Push for Unified Opposition Candidate in El Salvador

[Judi Lynn]

Wednesday, May 24, 2023
Gabriel Labrador
Leer en español

After months of intense and discreet negotiations, Salvadoran civil society groups have struck an agreement with the four opposition parties represented in the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador —Arena, FMLN, Vamos, and Nuestro Tiempo— to jointly back a single 2024 presidential candidate proposed by civil society movements.

A consensus was supposed to be announced this week regarding a possible ticket formed by retired military officer, lawyer, and longtime Virginia resident Luis Parada and human rights advocate Celia Medrano, who two years ago was shortlisted for executive secretary of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. In the last few days, though, other names were added to the list, delaying the decision, according to Stanley Quinteros, secretary-general of the Judicial Employees’ Union of El Salvador (SEJES) and one of the leaders of the September 15 Alliance for a Safe El Salvador.

“The intention is to present a single ticket that represents both the left and the right,” Quinteros told El Faro.

The opposition alliance is led by Sumar por El Salvador (in Spanish, “sumar” means to “add up”), a confluence of ideologically diverse social and political movements including the Coordinator of Popular Movements, Citizen Resistance, and the Alliance for a Safe El Salvador. Citizen Resistance is the most ideological diverse, encompassing politicians of the left, moderate right, and traditional right.

Most of these groups were formed in February 2020 in the wake of the institutional crisis provoked by President Nayib Bukele’s entry into the Legislative Assembly flanked by soldiers, which was widely read as a near-coup d’état. They congregate, though, many small and diverse groups and organizations that have been active for years, some of them since the end of the civil war in 1992.

More:
https://elfaro.net/en/202305/el_salvador/26856/civil-society-leads-push-for-unified-opposition-candidate-in-el-salvador








("Leering in español"?)


(Pardon the pictures. I finally flipped out after seeing the phrase "leer en español" one too many times, and pretended "leer" meant something creepy!)