El Salvador: Thousands of FMLN Supporters Close Electoral Campaign

The incumbent leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) closed Sunday its electoral campaign with thousands of supporters gathering in the capital.

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The FMLN presidential candidate, former Foreign Minister Hugo Martínez, affirmed he will win the coming elections in the first round, planned on Feb. 3. To win the presidency in El Salvador a candidate must get over 50 percent of the vote, otherwise a second-round runoff is required.

He added that if elected, he will govern with social justice, so every single Salvadorean can access education, health, and security."

"We want this victory, not as a personal wish, but so we can guarantee more social justice in El Salvador," he told press agency EFE in an interview.

The FMLN has been in power since 2009, after the country’s main right-wing party, the Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA), ruled for two decades.

Nayib Bukele, the former mayor of El Salvador’s capital, has maintained his wide lead in the run-up to the Feb. 3, 2019, presidential election in the Central American country, according to a poll released by Central American University (UCA) in December.

Bukele, a 37-year-old businessman of the right-wing Great Alliance for National Unity party (GANA) has a 24-point advantage over his nearest rival with 44.1 percent of voter intentions.

The former San Salvador mayor was kicked out of FMLN in October 2017, accused of dividing the party as well as throwing an apple at and insulting a female member of the party. Bukele denies the incident ever occurred.

He joined GANA after time had run out to register his own political party.

His lead in polls marks the first time in three decades that a candidate from an outsider party has a real shot of winning the presidency.

Businessman Carlos Calleja of ARENA has 19.7 percent support in the poll. The candidate for the FMLN, Martinez, has 10.6 percent.