Former leftist rebel commander Salvador Sanchez Ceren has won last Sunday's presidential election in El Salvador, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal said.
He beat out rightist Norman Quijano by less than half a percentage point, said the tribunal, which now must give the latter three days to appeal the tally.
Sanchez Ceren of the ruling Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front won 50.11 percent of the votes, compared to 49.98 percent for Quijano of the right-wing ARENA party, the tribunal said as it reported the final count from the runoff election. The first round was February 2.
Sanchez Ceren is vice president in the current government of President Mauricio Funes.
But this marks the first time Salvadorans have voted an actual former rebel commander from their 1979-1992 civil war to be president.
The final tally was identical to the preliminary result first announced Sunday.
Quijano has asked the elections be nullified on grounds of fraud. The tribunal still has to rule on this.
Former leftist rebel commander Salvador Sanchez Ceren has won last Sunday’s presidential election in El Salvador, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal said.
He beat out rightist Norman Quijano by less than half a percentage point, said the tribunal, which now must give the latter three days to appeal the tally.
Sanchez Ceren of the ruling Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front won 50.11 percent of the votes, compared to 49.98 percent for Quijano of the right-wing ARENA party, the tribunal said as it reported the final count from the runoff election. The first round was February 2.
Sanchez Ceren is vice president in the current government of President Mauricio Funes.
But this marks the first time Salvadorans have voted an actual former rebel commander from their 1979-1992 civil war to be president.
The final tally was identical to the preliminary result first announced Sunday.
Quijano has asked the elections be nullified on grounds of fraud. The tribunal still has to rule on this.
