El Salvador confirms leftist presidential win
Country’s electoral court rules that ex-rebel Sanchez Ceren won the tight election with 50.11 percent of ballots cast.
El Salvador’s electoral court has confirmed the victory of ruling-party candidate Salvador Sanchez Ceren in the presidential election a week ago and thrown out his rival’s request to annul the tight contest.
Eugenio Chicas, the court’s president, said they determined on Sunday that Ceren, from the leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, won 50.11 percent of the March 9 votes while Norman Quijano of the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) won 49.89 percent.
“Based on the results, Salvador Sanchez Ceren and Oscar Samuel Ortiz are declared president and vice-president elect respectively, for the period from June 1 2014 to June 1 2019,” Reuters news agency quoted Chicas as saying.
Quijano, a former mayor of San Salvador, had filed a claim to annul the election due to fraud.
The electoral court said there was not enough evidence to back that claim.
ARENA separately on Friday brought an injunction to the country’s Supreme Court seeking a recount of the vote.
El Salvador’s President Mauricio Funes said he will meet with Ceren on Monday to begin the handover process.