“Right now the opposition is fighting for political survival†: Bessy Rios 2024-02-16 19:33:55

This Tuesday in the Encuentro interview with Julio Villagrán, lawyer Bessy Rios assured that currently the opposition in El Salvador is fighting for political survival, and to be able to obtain the 50 thousand votes necessary to continue existing.

In this sense, the lawyer considered that the FMLN and ARENA parties will not disappear, but probably only the smaller parties such as Nuestro Tiempo, VAMOS, Fuerza Solidaria, among others.

“The law says that to survive as a political party you have to have 50 thousand votes in the parliamentary elections or have a representative in the Legislative Assembly, the problem is, and I do not doubt that ARENA and FMLN got 50 thousand votes, but What good is it to survive with 50 thousand votes if you don’t have a representative?.

Rios highlighted the importance of knowing the total number of people who went to vote on February 4, as a result of the formula change, to know how many votes are necessary for a candidate to be elected as a deputy in the Legislative Assembly, since that the total votes, for example in San Salvador, are divided by 16, with this we know the number of votes “that the first deputy costs, and from there on down.”

On the other hand, regarding the rumors of fraud in the legislative elections, he pointed out that the problem of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal was the silence that for hours allowed many people to consider it a fraud.

“The problem with the TSE is that it had a communications crisis that it did not know how to handle. Every minute that the collegiate body spent in silence caused stress, questions, nervousness and questioning, when they could have spoken from the beginning. That statement they released yesterday saying to bring the boxes, had to have come out on the night of voting day.â€Rios said.

Finally, the lawyer considered that the fraud did not take place on election day, but was done a year ago when the ruling party carried out the different reforms, leaving the opposition at a disadvantage.

“In the face of adverse conditions, you do what you can. What adverse conditions did the opposition have? an Assembly that reformed the laws a year before the electoral process and a TSE that was subjectedâ€expressed Rios.