1981

January 3: Roberto Viera, director of Instituto Salvadoreño de Transformación Agraria, and two U.S. advisors assassinated

Haggerty 1990: "This action alarmed not only the White House but also the United States Congress, and it added fuel to the effort to disburse aid based on improvements in the Salvadoran human rights situation" (page 42).

January 10: FMLN’s first general offensive

Central America report December 18, 1992: "FMLN launches its first large-scale armed action in the midst of social unrest and military repression" (page 378).

Haggerty 1990: "The launching of the ‘final offensive’ lent a new urgency to Washington’s approach. On January 14, 1981, four days after the offensive began, Carter announced the approval of US$5 million in ‘nonlethal’ military aid; an additional US$5 was authorized four days later...(T)he renewal of military aid...established a trend that President Reagan would build on when he assumed office on January 20, 1981" (pages 42-43).

Rosenberg 1982: "The Carter administration’s eleventh hour decision to resume arms sales to the junta in January 1981 signaled an ominous change in Salvadoran and U.S. strategy concerning the ongoing violence and civil war. This was confirmed with the U.S. State Department issuance in February 1981 of its now famous ‘White Paper’ citing direct communist interference and support for the Salvadoran guerrillas" (page 412).

March 1: Atlacatl Battalion is formed with U.S. support

September 19: Roberto d’Aubisson announces the formation of ARENA

December 11: El Mozote massacre

Central America report December 18, 1992: "Mozote massacre in the department of Morazán of more than 1,000 campesinos, allegedly by government army forces" (page 378).

December

Rosenberg 1982: "Voter turnout possibilities were buoyed considerably when in late December 1981 the Episcopal Conference of the Salvadoran Catholic Church publicly supported the elections as a way in which Salvadorans could express themselves" (page 413).

1982

March 28: Constituent Assembly election

Acevedo 1991: Gives total votes cast, valid votes, and votes for PDC, ARENA, and PCN (page 24). Gives number of polling places in San Salvador and number of potential voters. "A study carried out by the Centre of Documentation & Information (CUDI) of the Catholic Central American University (UCA), estimated that the turnout had been inflated by 40 or 50 per cent" (page 25). Gives number of seats won by ARENA and PCN (page 26).

Armstrong 1982: "The final official count was 1,551,680--out of a voting population estimated by the State Department at 1.5 million" (page 8). "...the Christian Democrats won a plurality of the votes, with 35.5% of the total; the rightist parties together won 52.3% and formed an alliance at whose head is the ARENA party, led by Roberto D’Aubuisson" (page 10).

Arriaza Melendez 1989: "Elecciones de diputados a Asamblea Constituyente: resultados por departamento. 28 de marzo de 1982" (page 28). Gives by department the votes for each party, the valid and null votes, the abstentions, contested votes, and total votes cast.

Baloyra 1982: "Final results of the Constituent Assembly election of 28 March 1982" (page 192). Gives by party number of votes, percent of valid votes and total votes, and seats won. Gives total valid votes, null votes, blank votes, and total votes cast. "Approximate distribution of the vote in the Constituent Assembly election of 28 March 1982, by department" (page 193). Gives percent of vote for six parties in the fourteen departments.

Baloyra 1993: Gives the number of ballot boxes and precincts (page 9).

Benítez Manaut 1990: "Elecciones del 28/III/1982: porcentajes de votos por partido" (page 77). "Composición de la asamblea constituyente" (page 77). Gives seats won by each party.

CCE 1982: Reprints all information submitted by parties registering for the election (pages 31-95). "Actas departamentales y cómputo. Cuadro final" (pages 151-163). Transcription of reports from electoral boards of each department. "Distribución de diputados por departamento y partido politico" (unpaged, follows page 163). Summarizes in table form the information presented in the reports. Gives for each department the number of votes, seats won, and residual votes for each party, total valid votes, null votes, abstentions, contested ballots, unused ballots, misplaced ballots, and total votes cast. Gives the total seats for each department and the number of votes needed to win a seat in each department. "Diputados electos a la asamblea constituyente" (pages 165-168). Gives the names and parties of each delegate and alternate elected to the constituent assembly. "Cómputo por actas de juntas receptoras de votos de las elecciones del 28 de marzo de 1982" (page 193). Gives by department the valid votes for each party, the null votes, abstentions, contested votes, and total votes cast.

Córdova M. 1988: "El Salvador: Elecciones del 28 de marzo de 1982. Porcentaje de votos por partido, según su posición político-ideológica" (page 89). "Composición de la Asamblea Constituyuente. Partidos. No. Diputados" (page 90).

CUDI 1982: Gives CCE’s estimate of registered voters and number they calculated would vote in the 1982 election (page 581). "Población electoral, segun la embajada de Estados Unidos en El Salvador" (page 582). Subtracts those in exile, those without the voting credential, those who had been killed, and those in the armed forces from the estimated electoral population. Gives number of voting boxes and precincts, and ballots per box. Gives number of boxes and precincts in selected municipalities. Gives number of election workers needed to supervise all the voting boxes. "Estimado de electores potenciales reales" (page 585). "Municipios en los que no se votó, segun el CCE, el 14.04.82" (page 586). Gives name of municipality, number of voting locations, and potential voters. "Municipios que no habían reportado resultados al 13.04.82 y resultados reportados por el CCE 3 14.04.82" (page 586). "Promedio de votantes por mesa y tiempo ininterrumpido de votación requerido" (page 588). Gives by department the number of polling stations, ballots distributed, voters, average number of voters per station, and time it would have taken that many voters to vote. "Cronología de resultados oficiales dados a conocer por el CCE" (page 590). Gives the varying statistics released by the CCE in seven different announcements. "Consejo Central de Elecciones: resultados por departamento" (page 591). Final results as announced April 14, 1982. "Consejo Central de Elecciones: resultado por junta receptora de votos" (page 593). Gives results for the municipalities of Aguilares, El Paisnal, and Jucuaran. The conclusion of the authors is that the official count was inflated by at least 450,000 votes (page 594).

Danby 1982: "The March 28, 1982 elections: deputies elected by department and party" (page 13). "The March 28, 1982 elections: final results" (page 20). Gives total votes by department for top five parties, total valid votes, null votes, abstentions, questioned votes, and total votes. "Estimate of real potential voters" (page 38). "Municipalities in which there was no voting according to the CCE, April 14, 1982" (page 39). "Average of voters by table and uninterrupted time required for voting" (page 41). Gives by department the number of polls that reported figures on April 14, 1982, the ballots allotted, voters, average voters by table, and uninterrupted time needed for voting.

Eguizábal 1982?: "Cuadro II" (page 94). Gives number of votes and number of seats won by ARENA, PAD, PCN, PDC, POP, and PPS; null votes; blank votes; and total votes.

Eguizábal 1992: Gives percent of vote and number of seats won by PDC and rightist coalition (page 139).

Eguizábal 1992a: Gives number of voting booths and percent of vote and number of seats won by PDC, ARENA, PCN, AD, and POP (page 50).

García 1989: "1982 election results" (page 71). Gives party, votes received, percent of total valid votes, and seats won. Also gives turnout, number of persons who voted, number of valid votes, and percent that were blank.

Haggerty 1990: Gives percent of vote and seats won by PDC, ARENA, and PCN (page 44).

Karl 1986: "The decision to hold elections in El Salvador in 1982 during a civil war was rooted primarily in a foreign policy crisis in the United States and only secondarily in events taking place within El Salvador. These elections were thus qualitatively different from those which had periodically legitimated military rule in the past. Following the classic model of ‘demonstration’ elections, the 1982 contests were imposed by the U.S. in order to improve the international image of the ruling Salvadoran junta as well as to avoid strong pressures for a negotiated settlement between domestic power contenders" (page 13). "The unexpected victory of the right threatened to undo the planned ‘demonstration’ effect of the elections, particularly since the ultra-right, headed by D’Aubuisson, announced that it would form a governing alliance which would exclude the Christian Democratic party" (page 19).

Kassebaum 1982: Gives number who voted (page 1). "Final vote in El Salvador constituent assembly elections" (page 2). Gives for each party the total votes, percent of votes, and seats won. "Central election commission results of voting on March 28, by department" (page 19). Gives for each department the votes for each party, total valid votes, nullified ballots, abstention ballots, ballots challenged, ballots not utilized, ballots destroyed, and total ballots. "Voting sites and number of voter tables" (pages 20-29). Gives for each municipality in each district the location and number of voting sites and the number of voting tables at each. "Criticism of the El Salvador elections" (pages 34-42). Reproduces letters and articles from the New York Times (June 3-14, 1982) discussing the alleged inflation of votes cast.

Montgomery 1995: Gives final vote tally and percent of vote won by the PDC and ARENA (page 160).

1984 presidential elections in El Salvador 1984: "The result of the election was that the reformist and center-left Christian Democratic Party (PDC) received 40 percent of the valid votes; the far right ARENA received 29 percent; the right-of-center, establishment, and pro-armed forces PCN received 19 percent; while the moderate, modernist AD took 7.5 percent of the vote" (pages 16-17).

Ramos 1997: This is ARENA’s first participation in elections. "Obtuvo el 29.3% de los votos válidos, con lo que pudo acceder a 19 escaños legislativos y se ubicó como la segunda fuerza electoral del país, después del PDC que obtuvo el 40% de los votos y 24 escaños" (page 66). The PCN wins 14 seats and the PPS one seat.

Ribera Sala 1996: El PDC no "pudo asegura la pureza de las elecciones de 1982, cuando la mayoría de los jefes militares locales simpatizavan con el PCN y ARENA, y helicópteros militares trasladaban las urnas. Pese a que el PDC fue el partido con mayor número de votos, la alianza de ARENA con el PCN le impidió formar gobierno" (page 36).

Rosenberg 1982: The elections in March 1982 are "for a constituent assembly, which would designate a provisional president of the country (to replace the junta), write a new constitution to replace the 1966 Constitution, and prepare the country for presidential elections" (page 412). "1982 Salvadoran constituent assembly election" (page 414). Gives by party the number of votes received, percent of valid vote, percent of total vote, and seats won.

Schooley 1987: Gives seats won by major parties (page 62).

Torres Rivas 1987: "El Salvador. Elecciones a asamblea general constituyente en 1982" (page 185). Gives by party the total votes, percent of valid votes, percent of total votes, and percent of registered voters. Gives the same information for valid, null, and invalid votes, total votes, number and percent of electorate who abstained, and total registered voters.

April 29: President chosen by Constituent Assembly (Magaña)

Motley 1983: "The president, Alvaro Magaña, a political independent, was selected as a consensus candidate. There are also three vice presidents, each representing one of the three major democratic parties" (page 2).

Schooley 1987: Gives assembly votes for winning candidate (page 63).

August 3: Pact of Apaneca

Acevedo 1991: "The Pact of Apaneca envisaged an electoral process which would transfer Magaña’s temporary power to a properly elected government" (page 27)

Caldera T. 1983: Gives full text of the "Pacto de Apaneca" (pages 34-37).

Karl 1986: "On August 3, 1982, the political parties which had participated in the 1982 elections signed the ‘Pact of Apaneca,’ an agreement modeled after Venezuela’s 1958 ‘Pact of Punto Fijo’ which marked the instauration of a democratic regime in Venezuela" (page 21).

Motley 1983: "The pact called for a multiparty Political Commission...to oversee the appointment of a new Central Elections Council, to draft the guidelines for the electoral process, and to work on municipal and presidential elections...(It) also led to the establishment of a Peace Commission...with the mandate to bring all Salvadoran sectors...into the electoral process" (page 2).

1983

March

Montgomery 1984: "On 6 March 1983, as the time for another election drew near, Pope John Paul II visited El Salvador. President Reagan’s soon-to-be special envoy to Central America, Richard Stone, was sent to tell President Magaña to announce the next election that day" (page 538).

July

Motley 1983: On July 11 the U.S. Department of State designates $3.4 million "for El Salvador in fiscal year 1983 to assist the development of the Salvadoran elections process" (page 1). States that "our opposition to power-sharing negotiations between the far-left guerrilla groups and the government springs not from a desire to pursue a military solution but from our conviction that El Salvador has had enough of backroom bargains among powerful elites, be they economic, political or military, far right or far left."

December 23: New constitution promulgated

Acevedo 1991: "The Assembly restructured the Central Election Commission so that members of all parties participating in the elections were represented. The commission was then assigned the task of setting up a proper electoral register and drafting an electoral law under which presidential elections would take place in 1984" (page 27).

Country profile. Guatemala, El Salvador 1994-95: "El Salvador’s current constitution came into effect on December 23, 1983" (page 39). The president is to be elected every five years and the 84-member legislative assembly is to be elected every three years.

Motley 1983: The constitution sets the presidential term at 5 years and legislators’ terms at 3 years (page 3). "In presidential elections, if no candidate receives an absolute majority, a runoff between the front runners will be held within 30 days."