El Salvador's leftists gain in legislative vote
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SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — El Salvador's former leftist rebels won more seats than any other party in legislative elections but fell short of a majority, final results showed Saturday.
The results positioned the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, or FMLN, as the single strongest party less than two months before presidential elections. But the outcome also means the party will have to negotiate with a conservative bloc if it takes the presidency.
The FMLN won 35 seats in the Jan. 18 elections, three more than in the 2006 elections, said Supreme Electoral Tribunal President Walter Araujo.
President Tony Saca's conservative Arena party lost two seats to end up with 32 in the 84 seat-unicameral congress. But the Christian Democratic Party won 11 seats and the conservative National Conciliation Party won five, giving the conservative bloc more than the 43 seats needed for a simple majority.
Neither side has the two-thirds needed to approve the national budget and other key measures.
Arena's popularity has been hurt by high gas prices and soaring food costs, and the FMLN's candidate, television journalist Mauricio Funes, is favored to win March 15 presidential elections.
That would give guerrillas-turned-political party the presidency for the first time since peace accords ended El Salvador's civil war in 1992.
The party has struggled to win over Salvadorans politically in the past 17 years. It has never completely overcome its rebel image — partly because its hard-left faction pushed aside party moderates when choosing candidates in past presidential elections.
In a significant setback, the FMLN lost the capital for the first time in 12 years. Arena candidate Norman Quijano unseated Salvadoran Mayor Violeta Manjivar of the FMLN.
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