Politics of El Salvador

El Salvador’s Shield holds an equilateral triangle that represents the three branches of government: Executive, Legislative and Judicial.

The Republic of El Salvador is a sovereign State and sovereignty resides in the people. The Constitution establishes a republican, democratic and representative government. The political system is pluralistic and is expressed through political parties, which are the only instrument for the exercise of representation of the people before the government. Consequently, the existence of a single official party is incompatible with the democratic system and with the form of government established in the constitution.

Public power emanates from the people. Government officials are delegates of the people and have no powers other than those expressly granted by law. The fundamental organs are the Legislative, the Executive and the Judicial. Each one of them has their defined functions and their decisions are independent of each other.

The Salvadoran State also has government institutions that monitor, support, and control its decisions. Among these institutions we can mention: the Public Prosecutor's Office, control bodies and local governments. Each one has its own policies for the election of its members and they have independence, established by the Constitution. The election system is directed and supervised by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, the entity that, according to the Constitution, has the obligation to establish the regulations for the Salvadoran electoral exercise.

Government bodies

El Salvador, as in all democracies, maintains a separation of powers.

• The Legislative Body is the Legislative Assembly of the Republic of El Salvador,
• The Executive Body holds the President of El Salvador,
• and the Judiciary is the Supreme Court of Justice of El Salvador.

The Legislative Branch (OL)

Solemn Session of the Legislative Assembly in the Blue Hall of the Legislative Palace.

In El Salvador, parliamentary functions are carried out by the Legislative Assembly. It is made up of 84 deputies, elected by popular, direct and secret ballot. The Legislative Assembly is unicameral.

Deputies represent the people residing in each part of the national territory and not particular geographical areas or political parties. They have no civil or criminal responsibility at any time for the opinions or votes they issue.

Election of offices

To be a deputy, one must be over 25 years of age, Salvadoran by birth, the son of a Salvadoran father or mother, of notorious honesty and education, and not have lost the rights of citizenship in the five years prior to the election. The mandate is established in 3 years but they can be re-elected.

Functions

The Legislative Assembly is fundamentally responsible for legislating. Other attributions are:

• Decrete taxes, fees and contributions,
• Ratify the treaties or pacts of the Executive with other international states or agencies,
• Decrete the income and income budget of the public administration,
• Create and abolish positions and allocate salaries to civil service staff and employees,
• Establish and regulate the national monetary system,
• Declaring war and ratifying peace,
• Grant amnesties and pardons.

It is also responsible for electing the following officials by nominal and public vote:

• President and judges of the Supreme Court of Justice,
• President and judges of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal,
• President and judges of the Court of Accounts of the Republic,
• Attorney General of the Republic,
• Attorney General of the Republic,
• Procurator for the Defence of Human Rights and
• Members of the National Council of the Judiciary.

The Executive Body (OE)

The government, in the strict sense, that is, the authority of command that executes the decisions of the State, is represented by the Executive. Its owner is the President of the Republic. In addition, it develops some acts through a Council of Ministers, of which it is a part together with all the representatives of each Secretary of State and the Vice President of the Republic.

It is affirmed that the Salvadoran system is presidential, since the acts of direction of internal and external politics are attributions of the President of the Republic, with limited intervention of the Legislative Assembly. Although there is a Council of Ministers that decides on some transcendental issues, it is made up of subordinates of the Chief Executive, whom this body can remove at its discretion. Exceptionally, in the case of ministers responsible for public security or State intelligence, and in cases of serious violations of human rights, the Legislative Assembly can recommend to the President of the Republic, on a mandatory basis, the dismissal of said officials. The Vice President of the Republic can only be removed by the Legislative Assembly in situations expressly determined by the Constitution.

Election of offices

The President of the Republic can only reach office if he is designated as a candidate by a political party legally registered in the Supreme Electoral Tribunal and wins in the presidential elections. To run for the presidency, one must be Salvadoran by birth, the son of a Salvadoran father or mother, secular status, over thirty years of age, of notorious morality and education, be in the exercise of the rights of citizen and have been so for the six years prior to the election. The presidential term is five years and will begin —and end— on June 1. There can be no re-election in consecutive terms. The President and Vice President of the Republic are elected in the same way.

The ministers are directly elected by the President of the Republic. All of them meet with the President and Vice President of the Republic in a Council of Ministers. It is the responsibility of the president to appoint, accept resignations and grant licenses to the ministers and vice-ministers of State, as well as the head of Public Security and the Head of State Intelligence, and may also remove them.

Functions

As attributions and obligations of the President of the Republic are indicated:

• To seek social harmony and to preserve the peace and tranquility of the country,
• Celebrate international treaties and conventions, submit them to the ratification of the Legislative Assembly and monitor their compliance,
• Leading external relations,
• Give the Legislative Assembly the reports it may request except for military secret plans.
• Sanctions, promulgates and publishes laws and enforces them,
• Provides judicial officials with the assistance they need to give effect to their orders,
• Condemns a previous report and a favourable opinion of the Supreme Court of Justice,
• He directs war and makes peace, and immediately submits to the ratification of the Legislative Assembly any treaty he concludes.
• The President of the Republic decrees such regulations as may be necessary to facilitate and ensure the implementation of the relevant laws.

The President of the Republic is the general commander of the Armed Forces, which is part of the Executive branch. The other fundamental organs of the State, that is, the Legislative and the Judiciary, may also dispose of the Armed Forces to enforce the provisions they have adopted.

For the management of public functions that correspond to the Executive there will be the State secretariats that are necessary, among which the different branches of the administration will be distributed. Each secretariat will be in charge of a minister, who will act with the collaboration of one or more deputy ministers.

Among other functions corresponds to the Council of Ministers:

• Decrete the internal rules of procedure of the executive body and its own rules of procedure,
• Develop the overall government plan as well as the proposed income and income budget and submit it to the Legislative Assembly,
• Propose the suspension of constitutional guarantees,
• Suspend and restore constitutional guarantees if the Legislative Assembly was not assembled.

Armed Forces and public security

The Constitution establishes that the Armed Forces is a permanent institution at the service of the nation. It must be obedient, professional, apolitical and non-deliberative. The Armed Forces' mission is to defend the sovereignty of the State and the integrity of the territory.

The President of the Republic may exceptionally dispose of the Armed Forces for the maintenance of internal peace. National defense and public security will be attached to different ministries.

Public security will be in charge of the National Civil Police, which is a professional body, independent of the Armed Forces and unrelated to any partisan activity.

The Judicial Branch (OJ)

Organization and election of positions

The Supreme Court of Justice is the highest court of justice in the country. It is elected by the Legislative Assembly from shortlists presented by the National Council of the Judiciary. The magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice are elected for a period of nine years, they can be reelected and they are renewed by third parties every three years. The Legislative Assembly may remove them for reasons previously established by law. Both the election and the dismissal must have the favorable vote of at least two thirds of the elected deputies.

The president of the Supreme Court of Justice, who is in turn the president of the Judicial Branch, will be elected every three years and will be the president of the Constitutional Chamber. Likewise, for this court, the Legislative Assembly will directly appoint the four remaining magistrates.

The importance of the Constitutional Chamber lies in the fact that it has the functions of a constitutional court: hearing and resolving unconstitutionality, amparo and habeas corpus processes, among others.

However, it should be noted that within the power to administer justice, it corresponds to any court and court —in cases in which they have to pronounce a sentence— to declare the inapplicability of any law or provision of other bodies contrary to constitutional precepts in specific cases.

Functions

The following are fundamental powers of the Supreme Court of Justice:

• Disputes between courts that discuss competence to decide who should judge;
• Order the course of the supplications or rogatory commissions that are free to carry out proceedings outside the State and to enforce those that proceed from other countries,
• Grant extradition, authorize the enforcement of sentences handed down abroad,
• To ensure that all judges and judges administer prompt and full justice,
• To know in advance of the responsibilities of judges of first instance, judges of peace and others who sign the law,
• Report and opinion on applications for pardon and commutations of sentence.
• It also appoints the magistrates of the Chamber, judges of first instance and judges of the peace of the ternas proposed by the National Council of the Judiciary, forensic doctors and employees of the units of the Supreme Court of Justice; it may remove them, know their resignations and grant them licences;
• Practice counselings and authorizes the exercise of their profession, and may suspend and disable them;
• It draws up the proposed budget for the salaries and expenses of the administration of justice, and sends them to the Executive for inclusion, but it cannot modify the draft of the general budget of the State, which shall be approved by the Legislative Assembly, which must consult with the Supreme Court of Justice in the event of adjustments to the budget.

The Supreme Court of Justice performs administrative and jurisdictional tasks, that is, those related to the operation of its offices, and activities that strictly refer to imparting justice.

The magistrates, judges of courts and tribunals fundamentally perform administrative functions such as the management of the economic resources that are provided to them by the Supreme Court of Justice and the control of its personnel.

Government Institutions

The Public Ministry

The Public Ministry is in charge of supporting and monitoring functions of the government, and is exercised by the Attorney General of the Republic, the Attorney General of the Republic and the Attorney for the Defense of Human Rights.

These officials will remain in office for three years, may be re-elected and must be elected with the favorable vote of a qualified majority of two-thirds of the elected deputies.

Attorney General's Office

The Attorney General of the Republic corresponds, among other powers:

• Defend the interests of the State and society,
• To promote, on its own initiative or at the request of a party, the action of justice in defence of legality,
• Conduct the investigation of the crime with the collaboration of the National Civil Police,
• Promote criminal action on its own or, at the request of a party,
• Defend fiscal interests and represent the state in all kinds of trials and in contracts on the acquisition of real estate in general and of furniture subject to tender.

It is also responsible for ensuring that in concessions of any kind, granted by the State, the requirements, conditions and purposes established therein are met.

Attorney General's Office

The Attorney General of the Republic is responsible for:

• Ensuring the defence of the family, minors and other incompetent persons, providing economic assistance to persons with scarce economic resources and representing them judicially in defence of their freedom and labour rights and appointing, removing, granting leave and accepting resignations from their staff.

Ombudsman for the Defense of Human Rights

The attorney for the defense of human rights must comply with the following attributions:

• Ensure compliance with human rights,
• Investigate ex officio through denunciation of human rights violations,
• To promote judicial or administrative remedies for the protection of human rights, to avoid the situation of persons deprived of their liberty,
• Supervising the situation of public administration vis-à-vis individuals,
• To promote reforms to State bodies for the advancement of human rights,
• To make public and private conclusions and recommendations,
• Develop and publish reports among other powers.

The supervisory bodies

The control bodies are the Court of Accounts of the Republic, the National Council of the Judiciary and the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.

Court of Accounts of the Republic

The Court of Accounts of the Republic is the highest Government Control Organism, according to the Constitution of the Republic of El Salvador. This entity is in charge of auditing public finances and budget execution.

National Council of the Judiciary

The National Council of the Judiciary is responsible for proposing candidates for the positions of magistrates for the Supreme Court of Justice, magistrates of the second instance chambers, first instance judges and justices of the peace. Its members will be elected and dismissed by the Legislative Assembly with the qualified vote of two thirds of the elected deputies.

Supreme Electoral Tribunal

The Supreme Electoral Tribunal is the highest authority in electoral matters. It is made up of five magistrates, appointed by the Legislative Assembly, who remain in office for five years. Three of them are chosen from shortlists proposed by the three political parties or legal coalitions that have obtained the highest number of votes in the last presidential election. The remaining two, who must not have political affiliation, are appointed with the favorable vote of two thirds of the elected deputies, from two lists proposed by the Supreme Court of Justice.

Local governments

The local governments of El Salvador are the municipal councils.

Municipal Councils

The Municipal Councils constitute the authority at the head of the mayoralties or city councils. They are elected for a period of three years through direct, popular and secret elections. The councils are autonomous economically, technically and administratively. They are made up of a mayor, a trustee and two or more regidores depending on the size of the population.

They have the power to create, modify and abolish rates and public contributions. The separation between the concepts of taxes, rate and public contributions is extremely important to delimit the areas of power of the municipality in tax matters. The three words derive from the generic concept of contribution or tribute. The tax is a contribution exempt from specific consideration for the person obliged to pay, that is, the taxes may not have a direct benefit to the taxpayer. This type of tax cannot be decreed by the mayors. The rates are contributions in which there is a direct consideration for the obligee. Public or special contributions are those in which there is a group of citizens that obtains a certain benefit by carrying out a specific work.

The council can also establish its budget, appoint and remove officials and employees from its dependencies, decree local ordinances and regulations, prepare its tax rates and reform them by proposing them to the Legislative Assembly, and manage freely in matters within its competence. No law or authority can exempt the payment of municipal taxes and contributions. Municipal funds may not be centralized in the General State Fund, nor used except in services and for the benefit of the municipalities. The councils administer the patrimony of their municipalities and render an account of their administration to the Court of Accounts. The execution of the budget is audited once the expenditure has been executed.

Governorates

Likewise, the Constitution establishes the presence of Governors in each of the country's departments. Among the functions of these officers are:

• To promote, support and organize entities that aim at the culture, health and progress of communities.
• Support sports and recreational activities.
• Organize, coordinate and implement disaster relief policies.

Political parties

The Salvadoran political system is pluralistic and is expressed through political parties, which are the only instrument for the exercise of representation of the people within the Government.

On the other hand, the existence of a single official party is incompatible with the democratic system and with the form of government established in the Constitution. Hence, in El Salvador there cannot be a single political party. According to the Electoral Code, a party must obtain at least 3% of the valid votes in an election in order not to disappear.

Election system

Salvadoran political elections are organized and directed by the highest Salvadoran entity in this matter, which is the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.

El Salvadoran vote.

Requirements to cast the ballot

According to the Constitution, the electoral body is made up of all citizens capable of casting a vote (Art. 76). Accordingly, all citizens of the Republic have the right and duty to vote, but with the essential condition of being registered in the electoral registry.

Basic requirements:

• Being Salvadoran over 18 years old.
• Being registered in the electoral register.
• This implies possessing Unique Identity Document (D.U.I.) in force at the date of election.
• Not being in prison at the time of the election.
• Do not suffer from any mental illness that prevents electoral decision-making.

Salvadoran proselytizing

Art. 81 of the Constitution establishes that “Electoral propaganda will only be allowed, even without prior convocation, four months before the date established by law for the election of the President and Vice President of the Republic; two months before, in the case of Deputies, and one month before in the case of Municipal Councils”; It is also important to note that according to art. 230 of the Electoral Code "It is prohibited for Political Parties or Coalitions and all communication media, natural or legal persons, to make propaganda through the press, radio, television, rallies, demonstrations, rallies, flyers, billboards, talking devices, as well as the painting and pasting of the same in public places, before the initiation of the propaganda period that regulates Article 81 of the Constitution of the Republic, and during the three days prior to the election and on the day of the same. Partisan propaganda is not allowed in the voting centers either.”

Election process

The exercise of the vote will be exercised by citizens in the places determined by law and may not be carried out in the premises of military or public security installations. For elections of Deputies, the proportional representation system is adopted, this means that the election of deputies is done through closed lists, and it is the party that establishes the order of priority in which the candidates will receive the votes. The election of Salvadoran deputies to PARLACEN is done in the same way as for deputies to the Legislative Assembly.

In the municipal council election, the voter votes for a party and the one with the most votes in the municipality will win the mayoralty. What varies in this case is the number of councilors who will accompany the municipal mayor in his management.

The law establishes that in each municipality a base council will be elected, made up of a mayor, a trustee, two councilors and four alternate members to replace any owner without distinction. When the population of the municipality is greater than five thousand inhabitants, the distribution changes as follows:

• Two more councillors in the municipalities with up to 10,000 inhabitants.
• Four more councillors in the municipalities of more than 10,000 to 20 000 inhabitants.
• Six more councillors in the municipalities of more than 20 000 to 50 000 inhabitants.
• Eight more councillors in the municipalities of more than 50 000 to 100,000 inhabitants.
• Ten more councillors in the municipalities of more than 100,000 inhabitants.

The electoral roll, which is the list that registers people with a Unique Identity Document (DUI), closes 100 days before the elections. In other words, a citizen who obtains his DUI after that date cannot be included in the register and therefore does not have the right to vote.

A citizen who is eligible to vote must go to their respective voting center to cast their vote. The centers are the spaces where the vote-receiving boards (JRV) are concentrated, that is, the minimum unit of the electoral process that serves to channel the votes of the voters. Voting centers are important because not only is the process of issuing votes carried out there, but once the time for voting is over, it is used to start the counting of votes by each one of the JRVs. In addition, the first phase of transmission of results is also carried out from there. In municipalities, voting centers divide voters by last name. In the case of San Salvador, for example, the International Fair serves as a polling center, one of the largest by the way, and voters registered in the district of the capital with a last name between the letter A and C can go there.

How to vote?

Voting ballot for the 2006 elections

The voting process is simple. The interested citizen must go to the voting center that corresponds to him. There, he will have to look for her name in the written register displayed throughout the voting center to find out in which Vote Receiving Board he will have to vote.

The census has the photo, full name, DUI number and the Vote Receiving Board where the citizen has to vote. Once found in the register, the voter will go to their respective JRV. The JRV is made up of a maximum of five members. It will deliver your DUI to one of its members so that he can verify it again in the register. When he finds it, in the case of legislative and municipal elections, he will give him two ballots (one for deputies and another for municipal councils) and a crayon. The citizen will then go to the ballot box of the Vote Receiving Board, a tiny private space where he can cast his vote. For a vote to be valid, he must mark the flag of the party of his choice, as far as the election of mayors and president is concerned; As for deputies, as of the 2012 elections, the voter will choose between the party's flag, the photo of a candidate from the party of his preference, or a non-partisan candidate.

Then, he will return to the JRV and deposit the ballots in another closed box. He will sign the register and insert one of his fingers in indelible ink as a sign that he has already voted (for the 2006 elections a marker with indelible ink was used). Ultimately, your DUI will be returned to you.

Voting centers generally open at eight in the morning and close at five in the afternoon.

Vote counting process

This phase is known as scrutiny. When the voting centers close, usually at five in the afternoon, the Vote Receiving Boards begin their work of counting ballots. Subsequently, they empty the ballot boxes and count the ballots for the election one by one. Once counted, the result is transmitted to documents known as minutes.

In each voting center there is a Data Transmission Center. From there, the records are disseminated as images via fax to the Collection and Archive Center that is adjacent to the National Center for Electoral Results Processing. The latter is in charge of counting the votes based on the images of each closing act. The same day of the vote it is possible to know preliminary results of the election, but the official results are released several days later. This requires the process called final scrutiny.

Vote from abroad

On January 24, 2013, the Legislative Assembly approved the legislation that enables the right of suffrage from outside El Salvador to compatriots residing around the world. The legislation was approved by the votes of 82 deputies. For the implementation of this new law, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal is responsible for organizing the logistics of the elections that were held for the first time in February 2014.

The legislation is designed solely for Salvadorans abroad to participate in the election of President and Vice President of the Republic. This legislation was approved based on a technical proposal built by an inter-institutional commission made up of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Secretariat for Strategic Affairs, the National Registry of Natural Persons (RNPN), the General Directorate of Migration and Immigration, and the advice of the Presidency. of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.

This new law was developed in accordance with a principle of guaranteeing the universality of the exercise of this right to vote. The two main elements that make it possible to ensure that this proposal is developed on this principle is that a new procedure is proposed to issue the Unique Identity Document (DUI) through RNPN offices installed in cities where the Salvadoran state has consular offices. or diplomatic. The second element of universality is that the postal modality has been chosen as the means for citizens to express their vote.

Advantages of voting from abroad by post: • Releases the governing body from the electoral processes, from the restrictions, which in the case of in-person voting, have in relation to the greater or lesser number of accredited diplomatic representations abroad and the facilities of space or infrastructure that they have.. • Allows the scrutiny process to be carried out in El Salvador. • Facilitates the surveillance process by political parties within the contest. • Avoid crowds of Salvadoran citizens at fixed points designated as voting centers, whether these are consulates or other facilities authorized for that purpose. • Allows people to participate in the electoral process, regardless of their immigration status, as long as they have a valid DUI. • It is cheaper than voting in person.