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El Salvador election: Both candidates claim victory El Salvador election 'too close to call'
(about 5 hours later)
Both candidates in El Salvador's presidential election have claimed victory after a preliminary count showed the vote was too close to call. El Salvador's electoral tribunal says that after a preliminary count of the votes, the presidential election remains too close to call.
Election officials said the race was very tight and told both to wait for the final results. Preliminary results suggest left-wing candidate Salvador Sanchez Ceren has a lead of 0.22 percentage points over his conservative rival Norman Quijano.
With all votes counted, the difference between former guerrilla leader Salvador Sanchez Ceren and conservative rival, Norman Quijano, is just 0.2%. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal asked the candidates to refrain from claiming victory, which both had done on Sunday.
Mr Sanchez Ceren, from the governing FMLN party, was widely tipped to win. It said it could take until Thursday to confirm the official results.
But Mr Quijano, who has been calling for a tougher approach on violence, has made gains in the past few weeks. Deep divide
He criticised the government for being too soft on street gangs responsible for much of El Salvador's violence. The poll reflects the deep political rift that still divides the Central American nation 22 years after its civil war.
The Central American nation has one of the world's highest murder rates. Mr Sanchez Ceren's party, the Farabundo Marti Liberation Front (FMLN), turned from a rebel group into a political party at the end of El Salvador's civil war (1980-92).
With just several thousand votes putting Mr Sanchez Ceren, the electoral authorities have said it will take them at least another day to declare an outright winner. When the FMLN won the 2009 presidential election, Mauricio Funes became president and Mr Sanchez Ceren was named vice-president.
"This tribunal recommends and orders that no party declare itself winner given such close results," said Supreme Electoral Tribunal president Eugenio Chicas. Mr Funes was a journalist who was sympathetic to the FMLN rebels during the civil war but was never a guerrilla.
In the first round, held on 2 February, Mr Sanchez Ceren had 48.93% of the vote. He needed 50% to avoid a run-off against Mr Quijano, who received 38.93%. If Mr Sanchez Ceren were to be declared the winner, he would become the first former rebel to serve as El Salvador's president.
Mr Sanchez Ceren, 69, was a Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) commander during El Salvador's bloody civil war, which went on from 1980 to 1992. Razor-thin majority
The Marxist rebel group became a political party after the end of the civil war and won the presidential election for the first time in 2009. With the preliminary count finished, Mr Sanchez Ceren had 50.11% of the vote, ahead of Mr Quijano, of the Arena party, who won 49.98%, according to the electoral authorities.
Mauricio Funes was elected and Mr Sanchez Ceren served as his deputy. Supreme Electoral Tribunal president Eugenio Chicas urged the two parties to wait for the official tally.
Street gangs truce "This tribunal recommends and orders that no party declare itself winner given such close results," he said in a TV and radio address.
In 2012, Mr Funes's government facilitated a truce between the country's two biggest gangs. "There is a difference of 6,000 votes. Of course that could be irreversible, but we can only confirm that in the final tally," he added.
The criminal organisations, or "maras", are involved in drug trafficking, kidnapping and vicious turf wars in El Salvador and neighbouring countries. Mr Sanchez Ceren, 69, had been widely tipped to win after his comfortable lead in the first round, during which he just fell short of the 50% needed to win outright.
But Mr Quijano made significant gains in the past weeks.
Controversial truce
Mr Quijano, 67, softened his rhetoric from one of cracking down on the country's infamous street gangs to advocating the rehabilitation of those young people caught up in gang life.
El Salvador has one of the world's highest murder rates, largely blamed on the street gangs, known as maras.
In 2012, the FMLN government facilitated a truce between the country's two biggest gangs.
The truce between the Mara Salvatrucha and the 18th Street Gang initially reduced El Salvador's murder rates but there are signs that the deal is falling apart.The truce between the Mara Salvatrucha and the 18th Street Gang initially reduced El Salvador's murder rates but there are signs that the deal is falling apart.
Mr Sanchez Ceren has tried to distance his campaign from the plan, which is widely unpopular with ordinary Salvadorans, says the BBC's Will Grant. Mr Sanchez Ceren tried to distance his campaign from the plan, which is unpopular with many Salvadoreans, says the BBC's Central America correspondent Will Grant.
He says he will try to include all political forces in the government if he wins the vote. The winning candidate will face the challenge of reviving a sluggish economy and reducing the country's high poverty levels.
"The Salvadoran people want hope. For that reason, we are going to build a great national understanding with all political forces," said Mr Sanchez Ceren. The new president will be sworn in on 1 June for a five-year term.
But analysts say he may have no other choice. Despite Mr Quijano's defeat in the first round, opposition parties won control of the Congress.
Mr Quijano, 67, has blamed the government for negotiating with gang leaders. He also denounced the influence of left-wing governments in the region over the FMLN.
"The FMLN proposals are based in giving the country's sovereignty to Venezuela," the Arena party candidate said during the campaign.
More than 70,000 people - many of them civilians- died in the conflict between the Marxist rebels and the right-wing government, which was backed by the United States.
El Salvador's new president will be sworn in on 1 June for a five-year term.