EL SALVADOR: LEADING PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES END THEIR CAMPAIGN ONE WEEK BEFORE THE ELECTIONS

Record ID: 347576

  • Title: EL SALVADOR: LEADING PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES END THEIR CAMPAIGN ONE WEEK BEFORE THE ELECTIONS
  • Date: 13th March 2004
  • Summary: (U1) SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR (MARCH 13, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. VARIOUS OF CANDIDATE SCHAFIK HANDAL WITH CHEERING CROWDS 0.09 2. SUPPORTERS BEATING ON DRUMS AND CHEERING 0.15 3. WIDE OF CROWDS CHEERING 0.22 4. VARIOUS OF HANDAL (3 SHOTS) 0.43 5. BANNER SAYING 'SCHAFIK PRESIDENTE!'/ YOUNG GIRL GIVING VICTORY SIGN 0.50 6.
  • Embargoed: 28th March 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR
  • Country: El Salvador
  • Reuters ID: LVA7KG1S5GGJ7SELRQNRXN7W8J9Y
  • Story Text: El Salvador's leading presidential candidates ended
    their campaigns, one week before elections

    El Salvador's leading presidential candidates this
    weekend ended their campaigns, one week shy of the March 21
    election.

    Supporters turned out in throngs on Saturday (March 13)
    for the final rally of leftist candidate Schafik Handal of
    the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN).

    "I won't govern alone, I will govern with the people of
    El Salvador, and together we will transform our country,"
    said Handal to cheering crowds. But despite the cheers,
    Handal was lagging more than 20 points behind frontrunner
    Elias Antonio Saca in the latest polls.

    Saca closed his campaign with a massive rally attended
    by thousands on Sunday (March 14). In the most recent poll,
    Saca led with 46.5 percent as opposed to Handal's 24.8
    percent.

    "The close of this campaign is the work of many many
    years," said Saca to crowds of his supporters.

    Saca, a former sportscaster turned broadcasting
    executive, could avoid a second-round runoff vote if he
    were to win a simple majority of at least 50 percent.

    Arena has ruled the Central American nation for 15
    years, including during part of a 1980-1992 civil war when
    it faced the FMLN on the battlefield.

    This will be the third presidential election since
    peace accords ended the conflict, which claimed some 75,000
    lives.

    El Salvador has a population of six million people, of
    which 3.4 million are eligible to vote.


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