Leftist Party Wins Salvadoran Vote

SAN SALVADOR — El Salvador’s F.M.L.N., the leftist party of the country’s former guerrillas, won the presidential election Sunday, marking a turning point after two decades of rule by the right.

Mauricio Funes, a former television reporter, declared himself the winner before F.M.L.N. campaign workers chanting “yes, we could” at the Sheraton Hotel as supporters on the street waved flags and honked car horns in celebration.

“This is the happiest night of my life,” Mr. Funes said. “And I hope it is also the night of greatest hope for El Salvador.”

Two hours later, Mr. Funes’s conservative opponent, Rodrigo Ávila, conceded defeat. “These are the ups and downs of democracy,” said Mr. Ávila , the former national police chief. His party, the Nationalist Republican Alliance, known as Arena, had won the presidency four times since 1989.

The electoral tribunal said that with votes from 92 percent of polling places counted, the F.M.L.N. had won 51.3 percent to 48.7 percent for Arena.

“We’re entering a new stage in our history now that candidates from the left have reached the presidency and the vice presidency,” Mr. Funes told supporters.

He called on the country to unite after the bruising campaign as it faced the global economic crisis. “I’m convinced the only way to confront the crisis is with national unity,” he said.

But those outside celebrating were not thinking about recession. “The people are greater than the oligarchy in El Salvador,” said engineering student Daniel Romero. “Enough years of false promises and censorship.”

The voting was calm Sunday, with a strong turnout among the 4.3 million registered voters.

“We want to change this system so it benefits the whole population and not just those with money,” said Victor Manuel Saenz, 53, a street vendor who wore a bright red shirt in the style of Latin revolutionaries.

With the end of the 12-year civil war in 1992, the F.M.L.N., the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front, became a political party. It controlled city hall in San Salvador for 12 years before losing in January and it is now the largest party in the Legislative Assembly.

Mr. Funes, the first F.M.L.N. presidential candidate who is not a former guerrilla commander, promised “safe change” in the mold of Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a moderate leftist whose economic policies have won support from foreign investors.

But Arena voters were not convinced. Fidelin González, 39, a single mother, said she had voted for Arena because she preferred to stick with what she knew. “It’s safer that way,” she said. “It’s not perfect, but it’s something you’re familiar with.”