ADR Case Study: El Salvador

El Salvador features an example of voluntary informal mediation, with trained mediators helping to prevent conflicts by orienting voters, explaining Election Day procedures to them, and promoting dialogue and peaceful resolution of problems during the voting and counting process.

Since 2009, the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) has worked on the mediation of electoral conflicts, drawing on its experience of mediation in other fields. The PGR signs a Cooperation Agreement with the EMB (the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, or TSE) and a memorandum of understanding with political parties.187 On Election Day, the PGR deploys trained mediators to every department of the country to mediate between individuals, political parties, and polling station staff. In 2021, the PGR deployed 172 mediators to 99 voting centers and resolved 532 cases, many of them concerning problems with voter identification, voter registration, and conflicts between parties (including those related to voter intimidation).188 The PGR mediators explain Election Day procedures to voters and other stakeholders, and they provide a space for dialogue to find immediate solutions to problems. The PGR also deploys a team to the counting center for 15 days, where they work to ensure that information is shared and that all stakeholders understand the process. In 2021 the PGR introduced an app to enable information about the cases they were mediating to be made public, in the interests of transparency.189

Although referred to as “mediation,” this initiative goes beyond what is usually understood by that term as it includes the provision of on-the-spot, accurate information to all stakeholders about voting and counting procedures. This can be enough to clear up misunderstandings and resolve some problems, thereby averting conflict and reducing the burden of complaints that the TSE would otherwise need to deal with. The fact that the PGR mediators are from a separate institution and are not TSE staff can also help them serve a third-party role in brokering discussion and dialogue. The reach of this initiative is relatively small (covering 99 out of 1,595 voting centers); with more funding, it could be expanded to include campaign disputes as well as greater geographical coverage.