1935 Salvadoran presidential election

none January 2022 February 2025 1935 Salvadoran presidential election El Salvador presidential Popular 1931 Salvadoran presidential election 1931 13–15 January 1935 1939 Salvadoran presidential election 1939 77% General Maximiliano Hernández Martínez, President of El Salvador.jpg Maximiliano Hernández Martínez National Pro Patria Party 329,555 100.00% President Andrés Ignacio Menéndez (provisional) National Pro Patria Party Maximiliano Hernández Martínez National Pro Patria Party Presidential elections were held in El Salvador between 13 and 15 January 1935. Brigadier General Maximiliano Hernández Martínez was the only candidate and was elected unopposed with 329,555 votes. In December 1931, the Armed Forces of El Salvador overthrew President Arturo Araujo and Martínez (Araujo's vice president) became El Salvador's provisional president. The United States did not recognize Martínez's presidency as the coup that brought him to power violated the 1923 Central American Treaty of Peace and Amity. In 1933, Martínez announced he would run for president in 1935 and resigned from the presidency in late 1934 to be constitutionally eligible to participate in the election. Martínez's government arrested or exiled potential opponents. He won the election unanimously and became President on 1 March 1935. The United States subsequently recognized Martínez's government and he ruled until 1944. Background On 2 December 1931, the Armed Forces of El Salvador (FAES) overthrew President Arturo Araujo in a coup d'état and installed Brigadier General Maximiliano Hernández Martínez (Araujo's vice president) as the country's provisional president.Ching 1997 363–364 In January 1932, Martínez suppressed a rebellion in western El Salvador, killing between 10,000 and 40,000 people.Tulchin Bland 1992 167 The event, known as es La Matanza, solidified Martínez's control of the Salvadoran government.Ching 1997 376 On 8 June 1932, Martínez announced that he would serve out Araujo's 1931–1935 presidential term.Grieb 1971 165 The United States refused to recognize Martínez as the president of El Salvador, due to the 1931 coup violating the 1923 Central American Treaty of Peace and Amity. Martínez sought a temporary successor to replace him while Martínez won an election to satisfy the terms of the treaty and acquire American recognition. In mid 1932, Martínez selected Colonel Fidel Cristiano Garay as his first presidential designate (legal successor) but later chose Brigadier General Andrés Ignacio Menéndez after police chief Colonel Osmín Aguirre y Salinas threatened to revolt.Anderson 1971 151 Electoral campaign In July 1933, Martínez announced that he intended to run for president in 1935.Ching 1997 382 That month, Martínez established the National Pro Patria Party (PNPP) to support his electoral campaign.Ching 1997 382 & 387 The party functioned as a patronage network to monopolize polling stations to ensure Martínez's victory.Ching 1997 393 Many of Martínez's pro-democracy government officials resigned from their positions after Martínez's announcement; Martínez placed several under government surveillance or exiled them from the country.Ching 1997 382 Independent observers believed that Martínez would run unopposed, and British foreign minister John Simon remarked that "no organised opposition would be tolerated, and the term 'elections' is a recognised euphemism".Ching 1997 382 Martínez forced both former president Pío Romero Bosque and military officer General Antonio Claramount Lucero into exile as their supporters attempted to challenge Martínez in the 1935 election; they were exiled under the accusation of planning a "communist sedition".Ching 1997 382–383 In January 1934, Martínez announced that he foiled a coup planned by Minister of Government Colonel Salvador Castaneda Castro and had him arrested, but Simon believed that Castaneda had no involvement and that Martínez only sought to "eliminate a potential rival".Ching 1997 385–386 In 1935, Simon wrote that "nothing short of assassination can prevent him from being reelected".Ching 1997 386 Romero, Simon, and United States fr chargé d'affaires Jefferson Caffery believed that Martínez faced the risk of a coup if he ran unopposed as some military officers may have wanted to run for president themselves. Among Martínez's chief opponents within the military were junior officers who were unable to hold multiple positions to collect multiple salaries as in previous government.Ching 1997 383–384 During the 1933 and 1934 municipal elections, Martínez ensured that members of the PNPP were elected so that they could ensure polling stations in their municipalities favored Martínez in the 1935 presidential election.Ching 1997 387 & 395 According to historian Erik Ching, Martínez wanted a "unanimous victory" to serve as a "public demonstration of [his] power and capacity as the supreme political boss".Ching 1997 395–396 All government employees were required to vote and PNPP members were encouraged by local officials to vote by simplifying the voting process, so that it only required them to show their party membership card.Ching 1997 396 According to the constitution of El Salvador, re-election was prohibited. To get around this restriction, Martínez obtained a leave of absence from the Legislative Assembly and resigned as provisional president on 28 August 1934.Olmedo 2023 He handed the provisional presidency to Menéndez, who was also serving as the minister of war.Olmedo 2023 Luna 1969 50 & 97 Bernal Ramírez Quijano de Batres 2009 119 According to Martínez, him running in the election was not him seeking re-election but instead seeking a second mandate, as he would not be in office exercising the duties of the presidency at the time of the election.Olmedo 2023 Results right 340px "Throughout Cabañas Department elections for supreme authorities are being conducted in the greatest of order. Voting is unanimous in favor of the noble cause postulated by General Maximiliano H. Martínez [...] People are providing a civic and patriotic demonstration. We expect complete success." Comandante of Cabañas Juan Vidal 14 January 1935Ching 1997 398 The 1935 presidential election was held from 13 to 15 January 1935.Ching 1997 399 According to the Salvadoran government, 77 percent of registered voters participated in the election.Ching 1997 398 The final results announced that Martínez won unanimously with 329,555 votes.Ching 1997 398–399 Martínez was the only candidate.Krennerich 2005 287 Regarding the result, Simon remarked that "The election itself on the 13th to the 15th January, was the usual farce. There was no other candidate, but the people were nevertheless urged to record their votes."Ching 1997 399 Maximiliano Hernández Martínez National Pro Patria Party 329555 77 Ching 1997, pp. 398–399 Aftermath After Martínez's 1935 electoral victory, the United States recognized his presidency.Anderson 1971 151 Martínez was inaugurated on 1 March 1935.Luna 1969 97 Martínez personally admired fascist leaders such as Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.Haggerty 1990 17 During Martínez's 1935–1939 term, he appointed Nazi-sympathizers and Germans to some government positions,Astilla 1976 161–162 purchased military equipment (such as aircraft and firearms) from Fascist Italy,Astilla 1976 155 & 157–158 recognized the independence of Manchukuo (a Japanese puppet state),Lindo Fuentes Ching Lara Martínez 2007 282 and recognized the government of General Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War.Astilla 1976 151 Martínez also proclaimed the "Martínez Doctrine" in 1937 that instructed the government to never take future loans.Astilla 1976 132 Martínez was re-elected unopposed in 1939 and 1944.Bernal Ramírez Quijano de Batres 2009 119 Both times, the Legislative Assembly elected Martínez (rather than through a popular election) after amending the constitution to allow him to run for subsequent re-elections.Olmedo 2023 Martínez resigned on 8 May 1944 during the Strike of Fallen Arms student protests against his government and left the country for exile in Honduras on 11 May.Bernal Ramírez Quijano de Batres 2009 121 Martínez was President for twelve years and is El Salvador's longest serving president.Haggerty 1990 17 References Bibliography 35em yes Anderson Thomas P. 1971 Matanza: El Salvador's Communist Revolt of 1932 https://archive.org/details/matanzaelsalvado0000ande/mode/2up en Lincoln, Nebraska University of Nebraska 9780803207943 78146885 1150304117 22 February 2025 Astilla Carmelo Francisco Esmeralda 1976 The Martinez Era: Salvadoran–American Relations, 1931–1944 https://repository.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4001&context=gradschool_disstheses en Louisiana State University Ann Arbor, Michigan 3809272 22 August 2025 Bernal Ramírez Luis Guillermo Quijano de Batres Ana Elia amp 2009 Historia 2 El Salvador History 2 El Salvador https://www.mined.gob.sv/descarga/cipotes/historia_ESA_TomoII_0_.pdf es Historia El Salvador El Salvador Ministry of Education 9789992363683 22 February 2025 https://web.archive.org/web/20221016073315/https://www.mined.gob.sv/descarga/cipotes/historia_ESA_TomoII_0_.pdf 16 October 2022 dead Ching Erik K. 1997 From Clientelism to Militarism: The State, Politics and Authoritarianism in El Salvador, 1840–1940 https://www.proquest.com/docview/304330235 en Santa Barbara, California University of California, Santa Barbara 39326756 22 February 2025 304330235 Grieb Kenneth J. Kenneth Grieb 1971 The United States and the Rise of General Maximiliano Hernández Martínez Journal of Latin American Studies en Cambridge University Press 3 2 151–172 10.1017/S0022216X00001425 0022-216X 156558 9983670644 146607906 Haggerty Richard A. 1990 El Salvador: A Country Study https://archive.org/details/elsalvadorcountr00hagg en 2nd Washington, D.C., United States Federal Research Division 9780525560371 89048948 1044677008 22 August 2025 Krennerich Michael El Salvador 2005 Nohlen Dieter Dieter Nohlen Elections in the Americas A Data Handbook Volume 1: North America, Central America, and the Caribbean https://books.google.com/books?id=-xZREAAAQBAJ en Oxford, United Kingdom Oxford University Press 270–299 9780191557934 58051010 22 February 2025 Lindo Fuentes Héctor Ching Erik K. Lara Martínez Rafael A. amp 2007 Remembering a Massacre in El Salvador: The Insurrection of 1932, Roque Dalton, and the Politics of Historical Memory https://books.google.com/books?id=AubqWtPHt1kC en Albuquerque, New Mexico University of New Mexico Press 9780826336040 122424174 22 August 2025 Luna David 1969 Analisis de una Dictadura Fascista Latinoamericana, Maximiliano Hernández Martínez, 1931–1944 Analysis of a Latin American Fascist Dictatorship, Maximiliano Hernández Martínez, 1931–1944 https://revistas.ues.edu.sv/index.php/launiversidad/article/view/1119 Revista la Universidad es San Salvador, El Salvador University of El Salvador 5 41–130 0041-8242 493370684 22 February 2025 https://web.archive.org/web/20250829004509/https://www.revistafactum.com/segundo-mandato-maximiliano/ https://www.revistafactum.com/segundo-mandato-maximiliano/ El Segundo Mandato de Maximiliano Hernández Martínez Maximiliano Hernández Martínez's Second Mandate es 3 May 2023 29 August 2025 Revista FactUM Daniel Olmedo Tulchin Joseph S. Bland Gary amp 1992 Is There a Transition to Democracy in El Salvador? https://books.google.com/books?id=okB-QgAACAAJ en L. Rienner Publishers 9781555873103 22 February 2025 El Salvador Politics El Salvador Presidential Category:Election and referendum articles with incomplete results Category:Presidential elections in El Salvador Category:Single-candidate presidential elections in El Salvador Category:January 1935 in North America