VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSN #1033 3081555
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 041555Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY SAN SALVADOR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1822
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

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