Christian Democrats Take a Final Bow

That grand old party in El Salvador, The Christian Democrats, was officially disbanded at the end of April in a ruling by the Salvadoran Supreme Court. The Christian Democratic Party, as well as the conservative National Conciliation Party, both were scratched by the court because they failed to meet the nation's three-percent rule in the most recent national elections. The Christian Democrats were the party of power during much of the tumultuous 1980s, with the noteworthy accomplishment of being the first party to peacefully hand over leadership after an election to a rival party in the history of El Salvador under the watch of then-president Jose Napolean Duarte. The Christian Democrats' star has long been fading with the ascendancy of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), which currently governs El Salvador.