2009 News
FMLN Wins Close Presidential Election
In a historic election, presidential candidate for the leftist Frente Farabundo Marti para la Liberacion Nacional (FMLN), former journalist Mauricio Funes, 49, won the presidency of El Salvador. By a very narrow margin he beat the Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (ARENA) current ruling party candidate Rodrigo Avila, former director of the National Civilian Police.
After a calm election day on March 15, shortly after 9 p.m., the trends showed by the official results released by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal gave the victory to the leftist candidate. Charge d’Affaires Robert Blau decided then to congratulate the winner at the hotel where Mr. Funes was gathered with his campaign team. Mr. Funes said that one of his government’s priorities will be to maintain and strengthen the relations between El Salvador and the US.
Afterwards, at the ARENA headquarters, Mr. Blau congratulated and recognized the effort of Mr. Rodrigo Avila, who offered a conciliatory speech accepting his defeat.
This is the first time that a left wing party wins El Salvador’s presidency. The elections were carried out in relative calm and while there were isolated issues at some polling stations, the parties have recognized the results.
The election campaign was heavily marked by attacks and aggressive accusations between the two parties. The debate also was focused on the doubts whether the possible FMLN victory would trigger a change in the bilateral relations with the US. However, Charge Blau congratulated the people and the government of El Salvador for building a democracy where calm elections were celebrated: “Mauricio Funes has won in a fair and free election. We have said many times that our intention is to continue with the good relations with El Salvador from government to government, and from people to people”, said Mr. Blau.
During the State Department’s daily press briefing in Washington DC, the Robert Wood, the acting senior spokesman congratulated the civic and participatory spirit of the people of El Salvador who exercised their democratic right to vote during the presidential elections on Sunday, March 15. He congratulated Mauricio Funes for winning the presidential election and reiterated the United State’s commitment to work with the new democratically elected government as friends and partners of El Salvador.
He also stated that relationship between the US and El Salvador goes far deeper than from one government to the next government. He highlighted the shared history of the two countries spanning several decades and the fact that there more than two million Salvadorans in the United States.