While the FMLN leads with 50.11% of the vote and 100% of Vote Receiving Boards (JRV) reporting, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) has yet to declare a winner due to the narrow margin of victory.
Vote Receiving boards (JRV) count the votes.
Although neither party can officially claim victory until the TSE has finished reviewing ballots on Tuesday, both the FMLN and ARENA announced themselves the victor.
Sunday evening, ARENA candidate Norman Quijano declared himself the winner with only 49.89% of the vote. Quijano accused the TSE of corruption stating, “We are not going to allow fraud. We are 100% certain that we have won. We will fight, if necessary, with our lives.” Quijano continued to elude to military intervention saying, “the armed forces are ready to defend democracy.”
In his acceptance speech FMLN candidate, Salvador Sanchez Ceren, who received 6,634 more votes than Quijano, asked that the people’s right to vote is respected.
“The men and women of El Salvador are the ones who decide, and if you don’t accept the result, you are violating the will of the people,” Sanchez Ceren said. “I say to my adversary, to his party, that my administration will welcome them with open arms, so that together we can build a new country.”
SHARE El Salvador brought 20 delegates to El Salvador to serve as international observers for this second round of elections. There were no reports of fraud or corruption from SHARE observers or other groups of international observers.
The narrow margin in this race came as a great surprise as polls leading up to the election showed Sanchez Ceren leading by approximately 10%. Stay tuned to the SHARE blog and Facebook page for more information.
SHARE El Salvador Election Observers in San Jacinto, San Salvador.
