The campaign of ARENA

The news about the other parties

Since the results of the presidential elections were published, few news have been published about the parties that disappeared. The latest news is that the untiring Ruben Zamora, founder of the late Democratic Convergence (CD, in Spanish) and the Democratic United Center (CDU, in Spanish), is prepared to organize another political party. Nothing much has been revealed about the situation of the National Conciliation Party (PCN). This political organization, that allegedly disappeared because of its poor electoral results, seems to be waiting for a political miracle that saves it from the verdict of the voters. In the mean time, these organizations keep gradually losing its prestige every day.

The parties as instruments of collective action
The importance of the parties as instruments of mediation between the social demands and the political system is an indispensable factor in the context of mass politics. These organizations connect the individuals with the public institutions. Since they appeared, more than two hundred years ago, they have progressively evolved, displaying different profiles to face the needs and the demands of the environment. This is the transformation of the parties of the masses (formed by “notable” people) into the parties of an electorate.

The parties of “notable” people were characterized by the presence of just a few members. Their image included social prestige, economic capacity, influences, intellectuality, among other aspects. As a corollary of this way of recruitment, the organization of these parties is based on committees of personalities and influential local groups. These parties are created from a powerful position. Until World War II, the model of parties was one of the most renowned styles in the world. It was considered the first companion of the rising democracies of Europe and the United States.

However, the parties of masses, a contribution of the German social democracy at the end of the 19th Century, are an instrument of the working classes to transform the cruel capitalist societies of their time. Back then, they were looking for the quantity, and not for the quality of the militants. This “massive character” -in the opinion of Valles- was justified by ideological and practical reasons.

On the one hand, it expressed the will to facilitate the people’s access to power, without discriminations of any sort. The party also became an instrument of popular education, because it revealed a set of ideas and because it proposed a program of governmental action. At the same time and in order to develop its task, it was necessary to have the indispensable resources: voluntary collaboration and economic means, something that came from the dedication and from the small contributions of the militants, and not from the personal fortunes of the notable people.

The evolution of the parties of masses opened the doors to a new type of party, called “the party of the voters”. In this last model, the most important aspect is the mobilization of the electorate. "With this goal, the party stumps its programs, which are often reduced to affirmations of principle -justice, order, change, progress, security, among other aspects- and modulated according to strategic conveniences. This concentration in the electoral objective, and the gradual introduction of the public financing of the expenses of the parties make the affiliation less important. This is no longer about providing the affiliated masses with a political doctrine, but about obtaining their vote: the electoral propaganda is more important than the political education".

Controversial leading roles
Despite the attention that the parties got since the very beginning of the liberal democracy, they were exposed to quite a few critics. In his farewell speech, in 1796, George Washington asked his compatriots to be careful with the excessive spirit of partisanship, a fragmentation agent. In fact, in the beginning, the parties were more concerned by the needs of the groups that dominated them. The noblemen founded parties to reinforce their positions of negotiation with other forces in the society.

Although the evolution of the types of parties erased the image of the political organizations that promoted the social divisions, the critics against the operation of the parties has not stopped. Now they are accused of becoming independent actors who work behind the back of society.

The ambition and the interests of the politicians -the leaders of the parties-, would end up being more important than the interests of the society as a whole. That is how they have remained far away from the society’s opinion, and they are incapable to elaborate a public policy able to satisfy the needs of the citizenry. In addition, many disagree with the fact that they are imprisoned by the interests of the more influential economic groups of pressure. This is how they have become mere electoral companies that intend to take control of the political power.

Does El Salvador need new political parties?
In the country, the parties do not have a good reputation either. The critics against those organizations have been generalized. Their vertical operation system has been questioned, as well as their distance from the needs of the citizenry. In this context, it is indispensable to wonder if the solution of the problems of democracy in the country has to do with the creation of new parties or with the purification and democratization of those that already exist.

There is no doubt that the parties play a key role in the way that democracy operates. They act as a bridge between the demands of the citizens and the institutions of the State. In addition, in spite of all the changes that these organizations have been through, they remain as political instruments necessary to represent the interests of the different social sectors. In this sense, as easy as it might be for the citizenry to create parties to defend their own interests, this constitutes the starting point of a democratic system.

Nevertheless, the decision made by the voters in the last elections cannot be overlooked. A correct interpretation of this behavior cannot overlook the little support that the so called “small parties” got. This fact must be interpreted in the sense that the Salvadorans did not perceive that these organizations represented a line of political fractures and that for some people this was a situation that had to be encouraged. Therefore, any decision connected with the intention of giving a new life to these political instruments must consider that verdict. In addition, they have the enormous task of demonstrating to the Salvadoran population that the political parties can behave differently from the poor performance offered by those that to this day occupy the political sectors.

El Salvador before the direct foreign investment

Due to the great affluence of capitals, which took place during the early nineties, since 1995 Latin America faced the different cycles of an economic instability that created structural problems. In this context, the role of the commercial liberalization in the propagation of crisis and the external impact has been questioned, since many countries of the region have paid a high price for becoming part of the international market.

The dependency level of these economies keeps increasing, as well as the danger to suffer a financial crisis of an ample magnitude. The vulnerability of the Latin American economies has been intensified in the last years, not only because the dependency on the unstable flows -also called " wandering capitals"- increased, but because the financial integration propagates the mistakes that were committed in the application of the macroeconomic policies. Therefore, some Latin American nations receive a very small amount of foreign investment, which causes a strong contraction in the flow of capitals.

El Salvador is not the exception. At the moment, this country is not considered the most attractive nation of the Central American area for the direct foreign investments (IED, in Spanish), according to the National Agency of Investing Promotion (PROESA). The organization remembers that "in the Isthmus, El Salvador holds the third position in the IED list, while Costa Rica occupies the first place". Nevertheless, certain efforts are being developed in order to reach a better position.

According to the information provided by PROESA, the textile sector is the one that has received a higher amount of investment. Between June of 2000 and June of 2004, this area created 25,158 jobs. When the information of 2001 is compared with the one of 2002, PROESA justifies this behavior alluding to the so called phenomenon of "displacement", which consists of the departure of investors, this is the result of an incessant search for inexpensive manual labor.

The low level of investment in the country contradicts one of the advantages that, under the administration of former president Francisco Flores, dolarización would allegedly bring in 2001. According to the information provided by the United Nations’ Conference of Commerce and Development, if the figures between year 2001 and 2002 are compared, it is possible to observe that for this last year the investment decreased by 25.4%. The same behavior was registered in 2003, because it decreased 24.5%. This year, the reduction of the IED caused the loss of seven thousand direct jobs.

It is possible to mention that one of the main competitors of El Salvador is the Asian countries, mainly China, and that specifically threatens the maquila sector. Therefore, the conversion of the aforementioned sector becomes necessary. To increase the value added to the clothing items, to make the process faster, to increase the number of accessories and to bet for the punctuality of the deliveries are some of the proposals that have been made by the international experts.

The question is if the government is not able to attract investments, what will happen with the jobs that President Saca promised to create? And if, in addition to this, the government does not count with enough revenue, how will it be able to finance the promises? The government did not considered the problems that the country could go through together with the Latin American economies when competing with the Asian countries, especially with China.

El Salvador versus China
In the last couple of decades, China has been portrayed as a solid economy of an ample growth in its exports. Since 1979, with the arrival of Deng Xiao Ping to the government, the economic authorities established as a primary goal to quadruplicate the GNP for the year 2000 by opening the economy and with the introduction of the so called "social economy of the market". Deng began to open the economy in a gradual manner without overlooking the political control. The new political leader transformed the agricultural sector, the industry, the system of defense, science, and technology. These changes allowed the President to elevate the standards of life of the population, and to reach by 1995 the pre-established goal. To this day, in terms of Parity of Purchasing Power (PPA), the Chinese economy has become the second most important one in the world.

As for the industrial matters, China liberalized the sector of the State’s companies, and authorized the creation of a range of small businesses dedicated to the manufacturing industry and the sector of services. Deng opened the doors of the country to the foreign investment and to the foreign trade. This allowed the participation of the State’s companies in the business of the foreign investors and opened the door for China to penetrate into the World-wide Organization of Commerce (OMC).

In 25 years, the GNP of China was quadruplicated. Between 1980 and 2000 their exports were multiplied practically ten times, and in 2002 it received 52 billion dollars in foreign investments. At the moment China has made a large number of investments in well-known brand names, and this is because the most important international corporations make their components in China, due to the low costs of manual labor.

The economist of the Morgan Stanley Company, Stephen Roach, indicated that the economy of China has enough growth potential to keep itself standing on a firm ground, and, twice in the last four years, it has overcome important external shocks (the Asian crisis and the present world-wide recession). The economist described it like "a great step forward into the reform", and he indicated that, "once again China has separated itself from the economic instability, not only in Asia but also in the rest of the world". "During the Asian crisis, very few people thought that China could resist the situation, but the country did not really look back and displayed an extraordinary force to dissipate the preoccupations", he added.

An obvious explanation of this development is in the agglomerated direct foreign investment. The one that increased even more after the incorporation of China to the World-wide Organization of Commerce, the foreign multinationals will be able to aggressively become part of the Chinese market.

Nevertheless, some economists with a special knowledge about China analyzed that, at the moment, the economic growth of this Asian country continues to depend mainly on the exports and the investment, since China has not yet fulfilled the objective to start up the enormous internal demand.

However, the effect that causes the incorporation of China into the World-wide Organization of the Free Trade is devastating for the country. Both the income as well as the creation of jobs in El Salvador mostly depend on the exports of the textile sector. The loss and even the departure of foreign capitals, seem to be some of the most critical consequences. To all this, it can be added that El Salvador has an economy oriented to consumption (in decline of the production), something that can be contrasted with the Chinese economy, which is able to supply its own needs.

Another disadvantage that can be added to the loss of foreign investment is the rigidity of the Latin American monetary and fiscal policies. Nevertheless, to bet for the reduction of the cost of the manual labor will not be the most healthy solution, especially not in our economy, where wages are not enough to cover the expenses on the basic food basket.

In spite of all this, China " is willing to extend its relations with Latin America and with the rest of the world for a common development based on a mutual benefit and reciprocity", stated the Ambassador of the Popular Republic of China, in Venezuela, Ju Yijie, within the framework of the conference of the Permanent Secretariat of the Latin American Economic System (SELA, in Spanish). However, it will be an arduous task for the authorities to evaluate the consequences of this association.