Following three conservative rulers, voters look left in the Central American country.

Mario Canseco

The people of El Salvador have been familiar with the Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN—Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front) for more than 30 years. The FMLN may provide the next president of the country in the March 2004 elections. After 14 years of rule by the conservative Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (ARENA—Nationalist Republican Alliance), many Salvadorians have thrown their support behind a party assembled by former guerrillas.

The FMLN first came to light in the late 1970s, as a response to widespread human rights violations by the government. Then came the assassination of archbishop Oscar Romero, which resulted in a violent continuation of the civil war, where an estimated 70,000 people lost their lives.

The FMLN has been active in the political field since 1981, when the governments of France and Mexico acknowledged its legitimacy. Still, it took 10 more years, two presidents and a peace deal for the rebels to finally become a bona-fide political organization.

Success for the former guerrillas has come in local and congressional votes. Hector Silva was elected mayor of San Salvador in 1997, and the capital has remained in control of the FMLN ever since. In last March's congressional elections, the party got 34 per cent of the vote and 31 seats, more than any other party for the second time in a row. Still, the presidential chair remains off limits. FMLN candidate Facundo Guardado came in second in 1999.

The resurgence of the FMLN is closely tied with ARENA's current problems. The party has been in power since 1989, earning three consecutive five-year terms under Alfredo Cristiani, Armando Calderón Sol and current president Francisco Flores. ARENA governments introduced neo-liberal ideas, advocating for privatization and a free trade agreement with the United States.

Flores has suffered in public opinion polls lately. Respondents rate his government with a 5.01 on a scale of one to 10, and almost half say conditions in the country have worsened since he took office. The public appears to be desperate to see action on a promised reduction to telephone and power tariffs, as well as a review of retirement pension plans. The numbers for ARENA are dwindling, with 23.9 per cent of respondents willing to vote for the ruling party, compared with 40.6 per cent for the FMLN.

Calderón Sol appears to be the front-runner for the ARENA nomination, but other leading figures include Cristiani, private businessman Antonio Saca and former police director Mauricio Sandoval.

Still, the top choice for Salvadorians is a man who holds no political affiliation. Journalist Mauricio Funes—who hosts an interview show on television—has the support of 20.8 per cent of respondents, while other public figures are below 10 per cent.

Schafik Handal, a veteran from the now defunct Communist Party who joined the FMLN in 1980, and Óscar Ortiz—current mayor of Santa Tecla—will face-off in a primary election on Jul. 27, to define the presidential nominee. The winner will have the difficult task of turning sympathy towards the party into votes for a candidate, a feat that has proven elusive for the former rebels.

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