Peaceful, historic elections 'acceptable' but second round required; 1.5 million voters at poll.

• Position: El Salvador

The authorities in El Salvador were called upon by the Security Council on 7 April to correct the shortcomings in the first round of the presidential elections held on 20 March. In a statement by its President Colin Keating of New Zealand, the Council also called upon those concerned to "guarantee a genuine and indisputable expression of the will of the people" in the second round of elections on 24 April, as recommended by the Secretary-General.

Some 1.5 million voters, amounting to 5 5 per cent of the electorate, had participated in the elections--an increase of nearly 400,000, compared with the 1991 and 1989 voting.

The Council congratulated the people of El Salvador "on the peaceful and historic elections", which in general had taken place "under appropriate conditions in terms of freedom, competitiveness and security". Despite some "serious flaws" regarding organization and transparency, the elections could be considered "acceptable", the Council stated.

The UN Observer Mission in El Salvador (ONUSAL) had deployed some 900 observers of 56 nationalities, who covered all polling centres with teams numbering between 2 and 30 observers. That "massive presence of ONUSAL", Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali reported, had made it possible throughout election day to "resolve countless practical problems of organization of the voting".

In the 7 April Council statement, full implementation of the 1992 Peace Accords--signed by the Salvadorian Government and the Frente Farabundo Marti para la Liberacion Nacional (FMLN) in Mexico City--was urged.

On 28 March, the Secretary-General had reported (S/1994/361) that progress was still required with regard to certain aspects of the Peace Accords, namely: public security, including deployment of new national civil police and phasing out of the old national police; reintegration into society, through transfers of land and other programmes, of "estranged groups including former combatants"; and the constitutional reforms recommended by the Commission on the Truth in March 1993.

Since no presidential candidate obtained more than 50 per cent of the votes, there had to be a second round, Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali reported (S/1994/375) on 31 March.

According to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (ARENA) had taken 49.26 per cent of the votes, and the Movimiento Nacional Revolucionario-Convergencia Democratica-FMLN coalition received 2 5.29 per cent.

The other parties and...