Eighteen deputies who seceded from the party of President-elect Xiomara Castro, Freedom and Refoundation (LIBRE, left), joined forces with right-wing parties to elect one of their own, Jorge Cálix, as President of Congress, at a meeting outside parliament.
At the same time, in parliament, the elected members of LIBRE appointed a deputy from another left-wing party, the Salvadoran Party of Honduras (PSH), Luis Redondo, in accordance with an agreement concluded by Xiomara Castro with the PSH.
In violation of this agreement, on Friday around twenty members of LIBRE had proposed Jorge Calix for the post of President of Parliament and, faced with the hullabaloo generated, 18 had seceded, two subsequently retracting.
Now considered a traitor
by his former camp, Calix has nevertheless promised to work on the implementation of the program of Xiomara Castro, who is due to take office next Thursday.
The priority of our legislative program is to make Xiomara Castro’s government plan a reality
, he said after receiving the support of 79 lawmakers, including 44 from the National Party (PN, right) of the outgoing government.
Ms. Castro accuses dissidents in her party of allying with the PN to prevent her from carrying out the transformations she promised to bring about during the presidential campaign.
Luis Redondo won 96 votes including, however, alternate votes.
Sixty-five votes are needed to win the leadership of Congress, or half plus one of the 128 seats.
Eugenio Sosa, analyst and professor of sociology at the National University, pointed to theAFP that Jorge Calix had collected more votes from incumbent deputies, which gave him a legality
.
But Xiomara Castro will recognize Redondo, it will publish the decrees approved by Redondo. It is the executive who orders their publication in the Gazette
, he added.
A major crisis is looming and there is a risk that Xiomara Castro will not even take office
, he also warned.
There is also the danger of another coup
, he also pointed out.
However, in his first speech, Calix was adamant: As long as I occupy the presidency of the first power of the state, there will be no coup against the elected president
.
Xiomara Castro won the November 28 elections by an overwhelming majority, thanks to an alliance with the PSH, in exchange for the nomination of the party’s presidential candidate, Salvador Nasralla, as vice-president.
