From an email sent by a Mennonite missionary in El Salvador:
| On June 1 Mauricio Funes, president-elect is scheduled to take office as the first FMLN president after 20 years of right wing government in El Salvador. The percentages didn’t really change much from what I wrote last night – more than 51% to less than 49%.
The things he said in his victory speech were noble. My summary of what the newspapers say he said is: ‘We will respect the constitution… We will listen to the other political parties… We want a good relationship with the United States… We will work hard to favor everyone, especially the poorest of the poor…’ And that brings me to my prayer request for these next 2½ months before he takes office. During his campaign Mauricio Funes, a TV talk show host for many years, consistently had a more moderate response than the ‘die hard’ left wing of the FMLN. As a new comer to the party he was not tainted with ‘civil war skeletons’ which is one reason that he was chosen. Mauricio has always insisted publicly that he will choose his cabinet based on skill and that the FMLN party will not dictate to him who he chooses to help him run the government. In the past, the FMLN has tended to choose people for key political positions based on their participation in the 12 year civil war rather than being gifted political leaders. We don’t know how free he really is to freely choose. So that is my request to you… Please pray that the people that are chosen to be a part of this government now in formation would be people who have the best of the El Salvadoran people at heart and that a climate conducive to the growth of the church of Christ would prevail. Thanks again for being our prayer partners. |