Chamber:
	Asamblea legislativa
Dates of elections / renewal (from/to):
	10 March 1991
Purpose of elections:
	Elections were held for all the seats in Parliament on the normal expiry of the members’ term of office.
Background and outcome of elections:
	The 1990 general elections were held to fill seats in the enlarged Legislative Assembly and 262 positions in local councils. For the first time since 1979, leaders of the Salvadorian Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), the country’s main armed opposition movement, ordered their followers not to disrupt the polling and in fact declared a three-day (9-11 March) truce in the 11-year civil war. Altogether seven parties or electoral alliances - representing a broad ideological spectrum from arch-conservative to Marxist - presented parliamentary candidates. Main challengers to the ruling, right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) were the Christian Democratic Party (PDC), the National Conciliation Party (PCN) and Democratic Convergence (CD), a coalition of three leftist parties. The FMLN urged voters to back this last group. In the wake of the polling, ARENA, led by Mr. Armando Calderón Sol, claimed victory but CD charged it with electoral fraud. Based on official results announced on 22 March, ARENA remained the largest single party but lost its absolute majority (formerly 32 of 60 seats) in the Assembly. The left, for its part, entered Parliament; although it received more votes than the PCN, the latter won more seats under a complex apportionment formula. International election observers criticized what they said were several isolated incidents of electoral fraud. Nevertheless, the opposition parties ultimately accepted the final ruling in the legislative races. ARENA, moreover, won up to 175 of the 262 municipal contests. The newly elected Legislative Assembly first met on 1 May.

STATISTICS

Round no 1 (10 March 1991): Elections results
Number of registered electors	2,180,00 (approx.)
Voters	53% (approx.)

Round no 1: Distribution of votes
Political Group	%
National Republican Alliance (ARENA)	44.3
Christian Democratic Party (PDC)	28.0
National Conciliation Party (PCN)	9.0
Democratic Convergence (CD)	12.2
Nationalist Democratic Union (UDN)	n.a.
Authentic Democratic Christian Movement (MADC)	n.a.

Round no 1: Distribution of seats
Political Group	Total
National Republican Alliance (ARENA)	39
Christian Democratic Party (PDC)	26
National Conciliation Party (PCN)	9
Democratic Convergence (CD)	8
Nationalist Democratic Union (UDN)	1
Authentic Democratic Christian Movement (MADC)	1

Distribution of seats according to sex:
Men:	77
Women:	7