FMLN, ARENA REBELS SEIZE ASSEMBLY LEADERSHIP

C O N F I D E N T I A L SAN SALVADOR 001033

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/03/2019
TAGS: PROG PREL ES
SUBJECT: FMLN, ARENA REBELS SEIZE ASSEMBLY LEADERSHIP

REF: A. SAN SALVADOR 1011

B. SAN SALVADOR 978

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: On October 30, the (left-wing) Farabundo
Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) party teamed with 12
newly-independent former (conservative) National Republican
Alliance (ARENA) legislative deputies to assume control of
the Legislative Assembly,s leadership positions. The
agreement allows the incumbent National Conciliation Party
(PCN) to retain the Assembly presidency for 15 months, after
which the FMLN will preside for the remaining 15 months of
the legislative term. The agreement suggests a burgeoning
alliance between the FMLN and its erstwhile right-wing
opponents, the ARENA 12 and the PCN. President Funes
publicly chastised the FMLN's gamesmanship and suggested he
is worried that the growing power of the FMLN could
jeopardize his long-term policy goals. End Summary.


2. (U) In May, at the onset of the current Assembly term, a
coalition of right-wing parties ) ARENA, the PCN and the
Christian Democratic Party (PDC) )- agreed to divide the
Assembly's 11 leadership positions as follows: three seats
to the FMLN, three to ARENA, three to the PCN (including the
presidency),and two to the PDC. The FMLN opposed the
agreement, claiming that it deserved the presidency because
it controlled the largest bloc in the Assembly.


3. (U) Since then, 12 of the 32 ARENA deputies broke ranks
with the party, and now call themselves the Great Alliance
for National Unity (Gran Alianza por la Unidad Nacional,
GANA) (see reftels). Under the agreement ratified on October
30, the FMLN and PCN will rotate as Assembly president. The
PCN's Ciro Cruz Zepeda (incumbent) will serve until February
2011, after which the FMLN's Sigfrido Reyes will serve until
the end of the legislative term in April 2012. The agreement
also expands the Assembly leadership from 11 to 13 seats.
The agreement assigns the seats as follows: four to the FMLN,
three to GANA (including one already occupied by Guillermo
Gallegos, head of ARENA's legislative bloc in the previous
Assembly),three to the PCN, two to ARENA, and one to the
PDC.


4. (U) The Assembly's president sets the agenda, appoints
deputies to committees and designates special legislation
review committees at his discretion. Other members of the
Assembly's governing body control administrative functions.
All members of the directive body earn higher salaries than
their counterparts in the Assembly.


5. (U) On October 30, President Funes publicly criticized the
FMLN's back-room dealing for the Assembly presidency, calling
it "a bad message" in which "special interests and personal
ambition have taken a front seat to the national interest."
He suggested that the rapid marginalization of ARENA worries
him because "(his) government and democratic coexistence in
general requires the existence of strong opposition parties."


6. (C) Comment: While the FMLN's assumption of the Assembly
presidency in February 2011 represents a significant change,
the big news here is the increasingly close cooperation
between the ostensibly ideologically opposed FMLN and GANA.
The FMLN now has two ideologically flexible, opportunistic
allies in the legislature: the PCN and GANA. As long as it
holds, this alliance of strange bedfellows gives the FMLN 57
votes (of 84),enough to pass any piece of legislation or
constitutional amendment. In the short run, this should help
President Funes win passage of his budget. However, Funes is
rightly worried that with ARENA fractured and marginalized,
the Assembly will be unable to help him check the FMLN's
excesses. End comment.
BRADY