The European Union deployed an Election Follow-up Mission (EFM) to El Salvador in December 2019. The Mission was led by Mr. Carlos Iturgaiz, Chief Observer of the European Union Election Observation Missions (EU EOM) to the 2018 legislative and municipal elections, and 2019 presidential elections in El Salvador.

An Election Follow-Up Mission (EFM) to El Salvador was deployed to assess the degree to which the recommendations of the EU Election Observation Missions (EU EOMs) in 2018 and 2019 have been implemented and the progress made in electoral reforms since the 2019 presidential election. Also, the EU EFM organised a roundtable aiming to bring together electoral stakeholders to discuss on the challenges and opportunities for the implementation of the 2018 and 2019 EU EOMs recommendations.

Despite the limited progress, the EU EFM believed that there is still time to advance on electoral reforms. The Mission considered that it would be beneficial to address electoral reforms in a more strategic manner, focusing first on those that could have the greatest impact for the 2021 legislative, municipal and PARLACEN elections which will be highly challenging given their complexity. In a press conference after the roundtable, Mr. Carlos Iturgaiz underlined that “all interlocutors are aware of the rush of time and the complexity of the 2021 elections” and suggested that “the debate [on electoral reforms] be undertaken in a more strategic and inclusive manner” as “there is little time left for political parties to seek consensus that will allow them to move forward on the reform agenda.”