FMLN Increases its Lead In Polls in El Salvador

SAN SALVADOR – The leftist former guerrilla movement, the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Movement (FMLN), is leading El Salvador’s ruling ARENA party by 18.5 percent in the latest polls for the 2009 presidential elections, according to an university poll released this week.

According to the poll, FMLN candidate Mauricio Funes, a popular TV journalist, leads with 48 percent of the intended, vote, followed by candidate Rodrigo Avila, of the right-wing ARENA, who trails with 29.8 percent.

The poll also showed that the FMLN leads in the polling for the legislative elections, which will be held next Jan. 15. The presidential elections will be held two months later, on March 15.

ARENA has been ruling El Salvador since 1989, and the FMLN has never won a presidential election.