The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) in El Salvador was victorious in Sunday’s presidential elections, the results of which are still preliminary.The latest data released by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) at midnight gave the FMLN a 10-point advantage over its nearest rival, the Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA).
The presidential candidate of the FMLN, Salvador Sanchez Ceren, described last night’s election results as a great win, to his supporters celebrating in one of the capital’s public plazas.
Close to midnight, Sanchez Ceren said that whoever wins in the first round with a 10 point advantage, will win the second with a higher margin.
He added that the candidate of the Unity coalition, former President Elias Antonio Saca, who came in third, congratulated him for the victory in Sunday’s Election.
Sanchez Ceren, FMLN leader and Vice President of El Salvador, said that he will call Saca and other political forces to establish an alliance of national unity to join forces for the next round.
Two hours earlier, TSE President, Eugenio Chicas, announced that the proclamation of the results will be delayed until the end of preliminary scrutiny.
He said that the final count, vote by vote, will begin next Tuesday by the TSE, 48 hours after the end of the election, according to law.
Chicas said that the data obtained yesterday by 21:27 local time (4:27 GMT of the following day), did not allow for a trend to be defined. At that time, 66.65 percent of the votes had been counted, but the Judge offered no new statements to the press or any further reports Monday. The second round is still unconfirmed by the TSE, but if necessary, it will be on March 9, with the second place finisher, ARENA.
The TSE continued publishing what appeared to be automatically updated data at its website and by about 01:00 local time today, 99.16 percent of the votes had been tallied and the FMLN had 48.92 percent.
ARENA had 38.93, Unity coalition 11.44, and the remaining two parties, Salvadoran Progressive and Salvadoran Patriotic Fraternity 0.42 and 0.25, respectively. (PL)
Written by Raimundo López