Civil War Still Casts Long Shadow as Salvadorans Go to Polls

Five years of peace have done little to restore prosperity to La Palma, a crafts and vacation center that was cut off from the rest of the country during 12 years of civil war.

The rutted highway, damaged during the strife, has not been repaved, and the Labor Ministry recreation center that once drew weekenders has not reopened.

“That affects tourism, and without tourism, this town does not live,” said Morena Bustamante, a 37-year-old craftswoman who paints the bright wooden figures that are this town’s claim to fame.

In elections Sunday, Bustamante expressed her disappointment with the government of the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance, known as Arena, by splitting her ballot between two leftist opposition parties, giving her vote to one for mayor and the other for the Legislative Assembly.

Sentiments similar to hers were expected to cost the ruling party control of city halls and legislative seats across the country. Arena dominates both local and national politics with 210 of the country’s 262 mayors and 39 of the 84 legislative seats, more than any other party.

With 19% of precincts reporting, electoral authorities said that the main opposition, the guerrillas-turned-politicians of the Farabundo Marti Liberation Front, or FMLN, would gain seats in the Legislative Assembly, which has been controlled by Arena. They did not provide information on specific district or city hall races.

The Arena mayoral candidate in the capital, San Salvador, virtually conceded defeat to a coalition led by the FMLN. The leftists also claimed victory in several other important mayoral races.

“It’s time for a change,” said Giovanni Velasquez, an 18-year-old student voting for the first time in Apopa, a town in central El Salvador where an Arena mayor was running for reelection. “It’s time to give someone else a chance.”

Yet Arena still has many supporters. “This mayor helped us get electricity and drinking water,” said Emilina Figueroa, 39, of Apopa. “There has been a change for the better.”

Many Arena supporters remain suspicious of the former guerrillas.

“We have seen how they act, the destruction they have caused and the fear that people have of them because their policy is not to encourage work, private enterprise and respect for private property,” said 40-year-old Rina Mena, a farmer who voted in San Salvador.

Arena played on those concerns throughout the campaign by releasing estimates of the damage to roads and bridges caused by the guerrillas during the civil war. On the ruined pillars of a bridge that the rebels blew up in eastern El Salvador early in the war, Arena supporters painted the slogan “Our great work of 1981,” with the former guerrillas’ acronym, FMLN, painted underneath.

The four major parties sent election observers to each precinct to ensure that voting procedures were followed. A few dozen foreign observers also were present nationwide, but their numbers were sharply reduced from previous elections when international groups sent hundreds of observers.

Scattered irregularities--such as voters whose names did not appear on registration lists--were reported.