Bridging the gap to become a better democracy: The future of absentee votes in El Salvador

     Two major issues that the people of El Salvador have been faced with over the past few decades are voting and emigration. The reasons that voting and emigration have become such sore spots for Salvadorans vary, but the bottom line under all of the various explanations is corruption.-Yes, it is true that even the greatest democracies are guilty of some degree of corruption.- However, El Salvador's "dirty past" has caused two major problems that the present government must now work to eliminate if  it wishes to become a truly democratic nation. 

     The current issue with voting in El Salvador is the lack of voter participation. This stems from a history of pressure put on voters to vote for a particular party, in addition to regularly tampered ballot boxes, etc. After realizing that their votes were not effecting the results of the elections, and tiring of the relentless threats being placed on their lives and jobs, many Salvadorans saw voting as a futile effort. This inability to change their circumstances (whether economical, political, social or all of the above) left many with only one logical option-emigration.

     Emigration from El Salvador has grown tremendously over the past decade and is still on the rise. In fact, "More than 2 million Salvadorans live outside the country, primarily in the US. Another way of looking at this -- of every person alive today who was born in El Salvador, 1 out of every 4 lives outside of the country" (Tim's El Salvador Blog). Having a fourth of its population live outside of its border's does not go unnoticed by the government. In the past the government simply accepted emigration because of how beneficial remittances were, and still are, to the economy. According to Americas Quarterly : "In the first eight months of 2011, Salvadorans living abroad sent home $2.4 billion in remittances to friends and families in El Salvador—a 4.8 percent increase over the same period in 2010. This makes the overseas community a vital part of the national economy."  

    The current Salvadoran government has come to realize the importance of its citizens that live abroad. In fact President Mauricio Funes has mentioned multiple times in the past of his interest in absentee voting:
  "I have asked the political parties, the intellectuals, academicians and magistrates, to prepare the bases of a political national consensus that pushes the necessary reforms to expand and to strengthen democracy, transparent the life of the political parties and to improve the performance of the electoral national justice, as well as, and this is an essential point of my request, that guarantee the right to vote of our sisters and brothers abroad"(El Reportero).
Unfortunately, up until now Funes' attempts to restore the voting rights to those abroad have not been fruitful. However, last week at a celebration of the nation's independence, Funes reiterated the importance of absentee voting. He declared  that the government is currently working with the United Nations on the technicalities of absentee voting in order to ensure that that option will be available to Salvadorans for the next election in 2014.

      Funes concludes that: "No matter how mature our institutions and as much as we modernize our rule of law, we are not a true democracy as one third of our population lives outside the decision-making, in truth, this is an achievement of great significance. A priority indispensable and necessary condition for the consolidation of the united country we all want."

     By establishing an absentee voting system, Funes hopes to reunite Salvadorans with their country by allowing them to have an impact on their country's future. Although the new Salvadoran government has not eradicated the need to emigrate, it has realized the need for change, and is at least making efforts to increase voter participation and improve its democratic system.