The Constitution, the Electoral Code and the Party Act regulate the way in which the Treasury should hand over political debt to the parties. The opposition says they did not receive funds.
The political parties in the contest, which are not subordinate to the government’s ruling in turn, ended their political campaigns for their presidential candidacies and deputies to the Legislative Assembly without their corresponding advance of political debt that should have been handed over since September last year by Hacienda.
Our Time, Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA), the Farabundo Martí Front for National Liberation (FMLN) compete for both the Presidency of the Republic and the Legislative Assembly.
In the case of the VAMOS party on February 4, it will only compete for seats in the Assembly; this party did not request the advance, justifying that El Salvador has economic needs.
Let’s see what happens, ARENA President Carlos Garcia Saade ended up saying.
Candidates and candidates for deputies and Presidency of the Republic consulted by El Diario de Hoy assured that the citizenry at this point in the electoral contest already recognizes the lack of equality of conditions with which this Sunday’s election will take place.
In the case of the candidate for vice president of Our Time, Celia Medrano, explained that the non-compliance with this payment was only one of the obstacles they faced in the campaign, but that each candidate provided own funds and received “small contributions” from people who have not froze them fears – to face reprisals for appearing as donors of an active party in the denunciation of state corruption.
In the absence of its delivery, the Salvadoran State would be in breach of the Constitution of the Republic that recognizes the legality of the political debt.
The State recognizes political debt as a financing mechanism for the political disputing parties, aimed at promoting their freedom and independence. The secondary law shall regulate the matter, Article 210 reads.
The Electoral Code also recognizes the validity of an advance in political debt, equivalent to 75 per cent of the votes obtained in the previous election of the same type in which it participated.
This institutional system co-opted by the government seeks to override any party expression that is not subject to New Ideas. As bigotry closes spaces open new causes of confrontation in the country. The lack of funds has been difficult, but that has not stopped us. “We’ve moved on,” Medrano acknowledged.
The advance available to the disputing parties or coalitions, as well as the amount to be paid for the votes, shall be determined on the date of the call for elections.
All parties could apply from the day following the convening of elections, i.e. from 7 September and should have been implemented no later than three days after the submission of the respective application.
“I have campaigned with our own funds and that of friends who believe in my project, but the limitations for me disappear when I get to the service of the most humble people,” said the deputy to a deputy for ARENA, Ondina Ramos.
Outstanding in proposals
The candidate for deputy for San Salvador in box 1 of Our Time, Hector Silva, while acknowledging the inequity of the conditions, is proud that at the level of proposals his balance is not.
“The campaign has only been uneven in resources, because when we talk about proposals, we have put forward more proposals; when we talk about courage, we have been braver to denounce the things that are wrong,” Silva said.
The reference of the capital’s candidate is valid in the fact that the proposals of the official deputies are still “give governance to what comes from the Presidential House.”
On debt
Political debt is a financing mechanism for political parties with contending, aimed at promoting their political and pre-election campaign proposals.
In addition, article 52 of the Political Parties Act determines that political parties or coalitions participating in elections shall have the right to receive from the State, a sum of money for each valid vote they obtain in the national elections.
The amount to be paid for the votes of the previous elections shall be the amount paid in the previous election for each of them, increased by the accumulated inflation, recognized by the Central Reserve Bank, which occurred during the period between each of the elections in question, the law states.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance does not provide public information regarding the debt it transferred to the political institutes for the previous 2021 campaign.
This article has been translated from the original which first appeared in El Salvador