1931 Salvadoran general election

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1931 Salvadoran general election
Flag of El Salvador.svg
  1927 11–13 January 1931 1935  
  Arturo Araujo Fajardo.jpg
Candidate Arturo Araujo Alberto Gómez Zárate
Party PL PZ
Popular vote106,77764,280
Percentage46.65%28.09%

  3x4.svg
Candidate Enrique Córdova Antonio Claramount Lucero
Party PDN PPF
Popular vote34,49918,399
Percentage15.07%8.04%

President before election

Pío Romero Bosque
PND

Elected President

Arturo Araujo
PL

General elections were held in El Salvador on 11 and 13 January 1931. Arturo Araujo won the presidential elections running on a Labor Party-National Republican Party ticket.

Contents

Background

Previous elections had usually seen the incumbents choosing their successors, allowing the oligarchy perpetual control of the country's politics. However, on this occasion Pío Romero Bosque failed to designate a successor, resulting in a wide variety of candidates. [1]

Whilst Arajuo obtained a plurality of the votes, he had failed to secure a majority. [2] However, the newly elected Assembly consisted largely of Arajuo supporters, and when convenened on 12 February, allowed him to assume the presidency. [3] However, Araujo, a landowner with progressive ideals, had the misfortune of taking office in the midst of massive labor and student strikes. Martial law was declared, and soon the military, upset about not having received its pay and supported by the oligarchy, which distrusted Araujo, easily overthrew his government after nine months. [4]

Results

President

CandidatePartyVotes%
Arturo Araujo Labor PartyNational Republican Party 106,77746.65
Alberto Gómez Zárate Zaratista Party 64,28028.09
Enrique Córdova National Development Party 34,49915.07
Antonio Claramount Lucero Progressive Fraternal Party 18,3998.04
Miguel Tomás Molina Constitutional Party 4,9112.15
Total228,866100.00
Registered voters/turnout392,383
Source: Nohlen

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References

  1. Grieb, Kenneth J (1971) "The United States and the rise of General Maximiliano Hernández Martínez" Journal of Latin American Studies 3, 2 p152
  2. Dieter Nohlen (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook Vol. 1 Oxford University Press, p287
  3. Grieb, p153
  4. Bland, Gary "Assessing the transition to democracy" in Tulchin, Joseph S. with Gary Bland (1992) Is there a transition to democracy in El Salvador? Boulder: Westview Press, p 166

Bibliography