Evaluation of the Municipal Elections in 1989. Political Impact of Terrorist Violence

The first part of the report consists of three chapters. One refers to selective terrorism, in which two main series of acts are analyzed: the number of terrorist actions against local political authorities, and the "vacancy" of municipal positions due to the resignation and abandonment of their officeholders. A second chapter analyzes the evolution of the voter population in the country at the departmental, provincial, and district levels, with the aim of identifying those areas where growth in that population has been zero or negative, insofar as this may serve as an indicator of the impact of terrorist violence. A third chapter identifies the areas in which an "electoral void" has occurred due to the absence of candidate lists for the positions of mayor and council members. The second part of the report deals primarily with electoral results. The municipal elections of November 12, 1989 were to be held in 183 provinces and 1,770 districts of the Republic. To date we have had access to the polling records of 150 provinces and 1,425 districts. (Excerpt from the preface).