Right-wing party takes lead in El Salvador vote

A right-wing opposition party took an early lead in El Salvador's general election, in which the leftist government of President Mauricio Funes is facing a key test of its popularity and support. With nearly six percent of precincts reporting, the country's Supreme Electoral Tribunal said the Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) was ahead with nearly 39.8 percent of the vote. It was closely followed by the ruling Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) with 34.3 percent. A conservative coalition named GANA led by ex-president Elias Antonio Saca, a congressional ally of the FMLN, was a distant third with 12.1 percent of the ballot. Six smaller parties also fielded candidates. On Sunday, about 4.5 million Salvadorans elected 84 members of the unicameral legislature and mayors of 262 towns and cities. ARENA, which ruled El Salvador for two decades following the country's civil war, campaigned on a tough anti-crime platform that resonated with many voters tired of rampant crime. "I voted because I want to see changes in this country -- our children and grandchildren live just like us, afraid of so much violence," Mirna de Cordova, 66, told AFP.De Cordova showed up with her husband Roberto early to vote at a polling station on the outskirts of the capital San Salvador, only to find that polls opened more than an hour behind schedule due to logistical problems. Like many voters, De Cordova said she wants to toughen laws against crime. Around 14 people are murdered every day in El Salvador, population six million, according to government figures. While unemployment and underemployment dropped from 40 to 36 percent during the Funes administration, young people continue to emigrate to the United States. A staggering one in three Salvadorans now lives in the United States, providing remittances of more than 3.6 billion dollars in 2011, around one sixth of gross domestic product. Funes, a political moderate with high approval ratings, has two more years as president in this tiny, densely-populated Central American nation. But his popularity does not necessarily transfer into votes for his party, the FMLN. In an improvised press conference as he voted Sunday, Funes urged voters to help him "guarantee that the changes that are taking place are strengthened, and not turned back." The FMLN has campaigned promising social programs and job creation in a nation with unemployment among one third of the population, while ARENA has pledged a tougher tack against crime and youth gangs, or "Maras," that now control entire neighborhoods in large cities and smaller communities, which they turn into drug-trafficking havens. Both main parties "have developed similar propaganda... without explaining how they will deliver on their promises," said Jannet Aguilar, director of the Institute of Public Opinion at the UCA. The biggest single prize of the day is for mayor of the capital San Salvador, where ARENA Mayor Norman Quijano has strong support in his reelection race against the FMLN's Schafik Handal, son of a prominent ex-guerrilla of the same name. The FMLN says it plans to build a simple majority with at least two minority parties this time around. The FMLN was founded by Marxist guerrillas fighting a US-backed government in the 1980s. More than 75,000 people were killed during the 1980-1992 civil war. Election officials have said that many polling places opened late on Sunday, suggesting that this might delay the final tally.