FMLN Wins Advantage in Salvadoran Congress

SAN SALVADOR – The Salvadoran  Electoral Tribunal announced Monday that the left-wing Farabundo Martí  National Liberation Front (FMLN) was set to win 37 of 84 congressional seats, three more than the party currently holds and a few more than the rightwing Republican Nationalist Alliance (ARENA), which won 34 seats.

With 75 percent of the vote counted after the Jan. 18 municipal and legislative elections, neither party was close to winning the simple majority of 43 seats.

In the mayoral elections, held in 262 municipalities, ARENA challenger Norman Quijano declared victory Sunday night in the capital, when early vote returns showed he had a several point lead over incumbent Mayor Violeta Menjívar, of the FMLN.