Four women from Vamos, one of the smallest political parties in El Salvador, publicly questioned the work of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) as arbiter of the general elections in February. On Thursday morning, the secretary general of Vamos, Cesia Rivas; legislator Claudia Ortiz; Santa Tecla mayoral candidate Xiomara Lazo; and San Salvador legislative candidate Wendy Alfaro confronted the magistrates of the Tribunal in a public event convened in order for political parties to sign an agreement of understanding to eschew violence in the electoral campaign.
Of the parties critical of the Bukele administration, only Vamos attended. Its leaders announced that they would not sign the agreement: “[We do so] for the dignity of we women who suffer political violence in this country, where there are no institutions truly doing something to stop this violence, where there has been backsliding on women’s issues,” said Rivas. “It would be hypocritical for a woman to sign this. That is why we say: Stop the political violence! No more!”
The FMLN, Arena, and Nuestro Tiempo did not attend, arguing that the agreement is an exercise in “whitewashing” for the Tribunal. In individual statements, the parties pointed to the fact that the TSE has permitted President Nayib Bukele’s bid for unconstitutional reelection and pre-campaigning by the ruling party, Nuevas Ideas.
Joining Nuevas Ideas in the agreement were the Bukele-aligned parties Cambio Democrático, GANA, the Salvadoran Patriot Fraternity (FPS), Fuerza Solidaria, and the PCN. The Christian Democrat Party did not attend, but has not publicly stated whether it will sign.
TSE President Dora Martínez took note of the absences: “The Tribunal’s doors are open for you to come and speak with us,” she said, adding that the agreement is designed as “a show of democratic political will.” Martínez told the press that the Tribunal cannot automatically act on evidence of violence against women without a formal complaint.
Minutes later, Arena legislator and reelection candidate Marcela Villatoro posted screenshots on X showing internet harassment: “[This] violence against me [was] committed by the head of the Nuevas Ideas legislative block. @DoraEsmeralda, do you still believe that there is no violence against women by ruling-party legislators? Will you permit the registration of candidates who disqualify and intimidate their own female colleagues?”
In May 2021, the Association of Women Mayors and Councilors (Andrysas) published that it had recorded 106 incidents of different sorts of violence against women in 49 municipalities from November 2020 to February 2021, during the last legislative and municipal electoral campaign. Of these cases, 56 percent reflected psychological violence, 26 percent verbal or symbolic violence, and 4.9 percent sexual violence or harassment. The most recent national polling on violence against women conducted by DIGESTYC indicated that 67 of every 100 Salvadoran women have suffered some type of gender-based violence in their lifetime.
