2004 Salvadoran presidential election

Presidential elections were held in El Salvador on 21 March 2004. Antonio Saca of the Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) party won the election with 57% of the vote, avoiding the need for a run-off on 2 May.

2004 Salvadoran presidential election

← 1999 21 March 2004 2009 →
Registered3,442,330
Turnout67.34% (Increase28.77pp)
 
Nominee Antonio Saca Schafik Hándal
Party ARENA FMLN
Running mate Ana Vilma de Escobar Guillermo Francisco Mata Bennett
Popular vote 1,314,436 812,519
Percentage 57.71% 35.68%

Results by department

President before election

Francisco Flores Pérez
ARENA

Elected President

Antonio Saca
ARENA

Candidates

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There were two front-running candidates:

There were also two additional candidates. However, pre-vote opinion polls consistently placed both of them far behind the two leaders:

The election was monitored by 270 international observers and El Salvador's own Tribunal Supremo Electoral, an institution created in 1992 to reform and validate the country's electoral system. Some 17,000 police were on security duty during the election.

Foreign interference

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The U.S. government under George W. Bush interfered in the elections[1] by threatening a deterioration of the bilateral relations in case of a victory by FMLN's candidate Schafik Handal. Bush's Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Otto Reich, stated that the U.S. government was "concerned about the impact that an FMLN victory could have on the commercial, economic, and migration-related relations of the U.S. with El Salvador."[1]

Results

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The voter turnout of 67% was the highest in Salvadoran history. The Tribunal Supremo Electoral confirmed Saca as the winner on Monday 22 March. Handal recognized Saca's victory, but chose not to congratulate him. Saca announced his intention to seek reconciliation with the opposition FMLN, in an effort to heal old divisions from the country's violent past. Saca selected Ana Vilma de Escobar to be his vice-president. She was previously the director of the Salvadoran Social Security Institute (ISSS). The new government took office on 1 June 2004.

CandidateRunning matePartyVotes%
Antonio SacaAna Vilma de EscobarNationalist Republican Alliance1,314,43657.71
Schafik HándalGuillermo Francisco Mata BennettFarabundo Martí National Liberation Front812,51935.68
Héctor Silva ArgüelloAna Cristina SolPDCCDU88,7373.90
José Rafael Machuca ZelayaGenaro Isaac Ramírez BarreraNational Conciliation Party61,7812.71
Total2,277,473100.00
Valid votes2,277,47398.25
Invalid/blank votes40,5081.75
Total votes2,317,981100.00
Registered voters/turnout3,442,33067.34
Source: TSE

References

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