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Cliff-hanger vote for El Salvador Left claims El Salvador election
(about 12 hours later)
Former Marxist rebels are putting up their strongest electoral challenge in 20 years as El Salvador elects a new president and vice-president. Leftist Mauricio Funes of El Salvador's former Marxist rebel FMLN party has claimed victory in the country's presidential election.
Voting stations opened amid final opinion polls which suggested Mauricio Funes, the candidate of the ex-rebel FMLN, had a slight lead. With most votes counted, Mr Funes has a clear lead over his conservative rival, Rodrigo Avila of the Arena party.
Should he win, it will be the first time his party gains power since the bloody civil war two decades ago. If the results are confirmed, Arena will have lost its first presidential poll since the end of El Salvador's civil war 18 years ago.
His race against conservative Rodrigo Avila was marked by bitterness. Mr Funes did not participate in the FMLN's armed uprising.
The contest narrowed considerably in the last week as Mr Avila made headway in his campaign to portray Mr Funes as a left-wing radical and close ally of President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. Mr Funes' supporters took to the streets to celebrate after exit polls gave their candidate the lead.
More than 17,000 members of the security forces are policing polling stations across the country. The BBC's Stephen Gibbs in El Salvador says they sense an historic victory.
Break with traditionBreak with tradition
The FMLN (Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front party) was founded by Marxist guerrilla fighters from the civil war.The FMLN (Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front party) was founded by Marxist guerrilla fighters from the civil war.
Mauricio Funes did not fight in the civil war The conflict ended in a UN-sponsored peace accord in 1991, after the loss of some 70,000 lives over less than two decades.
That conflict ended in a UN-sponsored peace accord in 1991, after the loss of some 70,000 lives over less than two decades. Mr Funes, a former television journalist, marks a break of tradition for the party as he is the first of its leaders not to have been an combatant in that war, our correspondent says.
Mr Funes, a former television journalist, marks a break of tradition for the party as he is the first of its leaders not to have been an armed combatant in that war, BBC Central America correspondent Stephen Gibbs reports. He stressed his moderate policies during his campaign and says he intends to maintain good relations with the United States.
Mr Funes insists that if he wins the presidency, El Salvador's relations with the United States will remain excellent. Supporters of Mr Avila, a former police chief, dismissed the FMLN as "communists".
Supporters of Mr Avila, a former police chief seeking to lead the conservative Arena (Nationalist Republican Alliance) party to its fifth straight presidential victory, dismissed the FMLN as "communists". The winner will take over a country plagued with problems, our correspondent notes.
The radical left laid down arms nearly 20 years ago
The top Latin America diplomat at the US state department, Tom Shannon, said on Friday that Washington would respect the choice of the Salvadoran people, and work with whoever was elected.
Whoever does win will take over a country plagued with problems, our correspondent notes.
El Salvador has one of the world's highest murder rates.El Salvador has one of the world's highest murder rates.
It has also been badly hit by the world economic downturn, with remittances from Salvadorians living abroad falling dramatically.It has also been badly hit by the world economic downturn, with remittances from Salvadorians living abroad falling dramatically.