Presidential elections were held in

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

on 20 February 1972.

Dieter Nohlen Dieter Nohlen (born 6 November 1939) is a German academic and political scientist. He currently holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. An expe ...

(2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I'', p. 276 The result was a victory for

Arturo Armando Molina Colonel Arturo Armando Molina Barraza (6 August 1927 – 18 July 2021) was a Salvadoran politician and military officer, who served as President of El Salvador from 1972 to 1977. He was born in San Salvador. He served between 1 July 1972 and 1 ...

of the

Party of National Conciliation The National Coalition Party ( es, Partido de Concertación Nacional, PCN) is a nationalist political party in El Salvador. Until 2011 it was known as the National Conciliation Party ( es, Partido de Conciliación Nacional, PCN). It was the most ...

(PCN), who received 43.4% of the vote. However, the election was characterised by massive fraud. The PCN had faced a strong challenge from left- and right-wing opposition, and as a result had tried to rig the election by holding the presidential elections two weeks before the

legislative election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

(which took place on 12 March) to ensure that if Molina failed to pass the 50% mark, the Legislative Assembly would still be under PCN control to approve him as president. Despite their attempts to stuff ballot boxes, it looked for a while as though

José Napoleón Duarte José Napoleón Duarte Fuentes (23 November 1925 – 23 February 1990) was a Salvadoran politician who served as President of El Salvador from 1 June 1984 to 1 June 1989. He was mayor of San Salvador before running for president in 1972. He los ...

of the opposition National Opposing Union (UNO, a coalition of the

Christian Democratic Party __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social tea ...

National Revolutionary Movement The Revolutionary Nationalist Movement ( es, Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario , MNR) is a Centre-right politics, centre-right Conservatism, conservative political party in Bolivia and was the leading force behind the Bolivian National Revo ...

and

Nationalist Democratic Union Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

) had been victorious after the Central Election Board in

San Salvador San Salvador (; ) is the capital and the largest city of El Salvador and its eponymous department. It is the country's political, cultural, educational and financial center. The Metropolitan Area of San Salvador, which comprises the capital i ...

issued a statement that Duarte had won by around 6,000 votes. However, this was followed by a three-day news blackout, after which a revised set of figures was announced giving a narrow victory to Molina, meaning that the Legislative Assembly (with a PCN majority) would choose the president. The opposition walked out of the vote, resulting in Molina being elected by 31 votes to zero.Williams & Walter, p. 82

Results

References

Bibliography

*Anderson, Thomas P. Politics in Central America: Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. New York: Praeger. Revised edition. 1988. *Bland, Gary. "Assessing the transition to democracy." Tulchin, Joseph S. with Gary Bland, eds. 1992. Is there a transition to democracy in El Salvador? Boulder: Westview Press (Woodrow Wilson Center current studies on Latin America) 1992. *Bowdler, George A. Political participation in El Salvador: a statistical analysis of spatial, historico-temporal and socio-economic relationships to voter registration and total votes cast, 1964-1972. University of South Carolina. (Dissertation). 1974. *Caldera T., Hilda. Historia del Partido Demócrata Cristiano de El Salvador. Tegucigalpa: Instituto Centroamericano de Estudios Políticos. 1983. *Eguizábal, Cristina. "El Salvador: elecciones sin democracia." Polemica (Costa Rica) 14/15:16-33 (marzo-junio 1984). 1984. *Haggerty, Richard A., ed. El Salvador, a country study. Washington: Library of Congress, Federal Research Division. 1990. * LeoGrande, William and Carla Anne Robbins. "Oligarchs and officers: the crisis in El Salvador." Foreign affairs 58, 5:1084-1103 (summer 1980). 1980. *Montgomery, Tommie Sue. 1995. Revolution in El Salvador: from civil strife to civil peace. Boulder: Westview. *Political Handbook of the world, 1972. New York, 1973. *Schooley, Helen. Conflict in Central America. Harlow: Longman. 1987. *Webre, Stephen. José Napoleón Duarte and the Christian Democratic Party in Salvadoran Politics 1960-1972. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. 1979. *White, Alastair. El Salvador. New York: Praeger Publishers. 1973. {{Salvadoran elections Presidential elections in El Salvador 1972 in El Salvador