EL SALVADOR: The FMLN's Salvador Sanchez Ceren claims victory in El Salvador's presidential run-off with a razor-thin lead and facing accusations of fraud from rival Norman Quijano

Record ID: 596420

  • Title: EL SALVADOR: The FMLN's Salvador Sanchez Ceren claims victory in El Salvador's presidential run-off with a razor-thin lead and facing accusations of fraud from rival Norman Quijano
  • Date: 10th March 2014
  • Summary: SANCHEZ CEREN RAISING HIS HANDS IN VICTORY SUPPORTERS OF ARENA CANDIDATE NORMAN QUIJANO ARRIVING AT THE OFFICES OF THE ELECTORAL SUPREME COURT BARRICADES AND RIOT POLICE WATCHING QUIJANO SUPPORTERS SHOUTING POLICE QUIJANO SUPPORTERS SHOUTING (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SUPPORTER OF NORMAN QUIJANO, FLOR LEIRES, SAYING: "This more than decided that the people should be here prot
  • Embargoed: 25th March 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: El Salvador
  • Country: El Salvador
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVABKHFSFUPMIL0C601E5II4GTVF
  • Story Text: A former Marxist guerrilla leader claimed victory in El Salvador's presidential election on Sunday (March 9) as results showed him with a very thin lead. But his conservative rival warned of fraud and insisted he was the winner.
    Salvador Sanchez Ceren of the ruling Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), which fought a series of U.S.-backed governments in a 1980-1992 civil war, had 50.11 percent of the vote with returns in from 99.95 percent of polling stations.
    His right-wing challenger Norman Quijano, a former mayor of San Salvador, had 49.89 percent in the run-off vote, which was called after Sanchez Ceren fell just short of a first-round victory last month.
    The two men were separated by just 6,448 votes, an unexpectedly close race that raised tensions in a country still sharply divided between left and right more than two decades after the civil war ended with peace accords.
    Both candidates claimed victory.

    "Thank you to all those who gave us their vote. But thanks also to those who didn't give us your vote. We are going to govern for all - those who voted for us and those who didn't. We are going to govern for all with honesty, fulfilling our promises," Sanchez Ceren told supporters late on Sunday night.

    "I call on all the businessmen, I call on all political sectors, I call on the Salvadorean people to join together, to join together for El Salvador, to join together for our homeland, to join together for our family, to join together to make this country that needs an encouraging future great," he added.
    An angry Quijano, 67, accused the election tribunal of corruption and hinted at foul play.
    The election tribunal said Sanchez Ceren's lead was indisputable but stopped short of declaring him the winner, saying it needed to complete a formal count and study challenges to individual ballots. It was not clear how long that would take.
    Dozens of Quijano supporters gathered outside the electoral tribunal, shouting "Fraud".

    "This more than decided that the people should be here protesting and defending our vote. We have voted and we are here so that the electoral Supreme Court accepts that we won," said Quijano supporter Flor Leires.
    Sanchez Ceren won 49 percent in the first round of voting last month, leading Quijano of the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (Arena) party by 10 percentage points and just failing to reach the majority needed to avoid a run-off.
    Polls ahead of Sunday's run-off had shown Sanchez Ceren the favorite to win with about 55 percent support.
    But Quijano picked up support from moderate conservatives in the last month by painting Sanchez Ceren as a communist with blood on his hands who would drag El Salvador hard to the left.
    A Sanchez Ceren victory would give the FMLN a second consecutive term and the affable, media-shy 69-year-old has vowed to build on its social programs, which include a glass of milk a day for children and free school uniforms, shoes and supplies.
    Tapping into middle-class fears, Quijano warned that Sanchez Ceren would bow to the influence of Venezuela, where the socialist government has taken over private companies.
    El Salvador has remained a polarized society since the civil war, which killed about 75,000 people and left many with a deep distrust of the former rebels.
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