Rightist Opposition Posts Gains in El Salvador Voting

The rightist opposition won the mayorality of San Salvador in Sunday’s legislative and municipal elections, an upset victory that appeared to augur a big win nationwide.

The announcement came shortly before midnight Sunday during a news conference attended by members of the Central Electoral Commission and the two main candidates for mayor.

Armando Calderon Sol, the candidate of the rightist Republican Nationalist Alliance, or Arena, repeated a claim of victory he had made a few hours earlier.

Alejandro Duarte, the Christian Democratic candidate and son of President Jose Napoleon Duarte, walked to the speaker’s table when Calderon, a lawyer, had finished, hugged the mayor-elect and conceded that he had lost.

“I want to publicly recognize that Mr. Calderon Sol has won,” Duarte said. He congratulated the Salvadoran people for voting despite threats of violence from leftist guerrillas.

At stake in the voting were all 60 seats in the National Assembly, the unicameral legislature. Voters also elected mayors and municipal councils in the nation’s 262 cities and towns. All terms are for three years.

‘Defeated Terror of Left’

“This day was a glorious gesture of the Salvadoran people,” Duarte said. “We have defeated the terror and violence of the left.”

Rebels of the leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, engaged in an 8-year-old war against the U.S.-backed government, had said the vote was a farce and had called for a boycott. Last week they ordered a traffic ban and threatened to attack any vehicles on the nation’s highways.

The electoral board declined to provide official results, saying it would announce “almost definitive” returns today.

Arena had been expected to make significant gains in the election. But it had been cautious about predicting its chances for taking the mayorality from the Christian Democrats, who have held the post since 1964.

The Christian Democrats had been expected to lose the majority they have in the National Assembly. They currently hold 33 seats.

Arena, which had 13 seats in the outgoing legislature, was considered unlikely to win an outright majority. But its victory in the Christian Democrats’ San Salvador stronghold indicated that the nationwide results could be even better than Arena officials had predicted.

The armed forces reported that guerrillas carried out a brief mortar attack outside the eastern city of Chinameca shortly after the polls closed. The attack interrupted vote counting but caused no injuries, according to the military press office.

Early Sunday, the entire capital was without electricity after guerrillas destroyed 100 utility poles and high tension towers. Virtually no one in San Salvador had running water, as the state-owned utility’s pumps run on electricity. By midday, power was being restored in the capital.

Telephone calls to local reporters around the country showed that guerrillas had knocked out power in 11 of El Salvador’s 14 provinces.

Election officials consulted at various polling places in the capital said the turnout appeared to be about the same or slightly more than in the previous legislative elections in 1985, when 1.2 million people voted. The registered electorate is 1.6 million.

Lower in Some Towns

Officials consulted in Nejapa and Guazapa, two towns north of the capital, said the turnout appeared slightly less than in 1985. Because of the boycott call, turnout was considered especially significant.

More than 100 observers from 45 countries and several international organizations were here.

The 19-member U.S. delegation was headed by Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) and Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.).