El Salvador Ex-Guerrilla Voted Into Presidential Runoff

SHOTLIST : SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR- 02 FEB, 2014 SOURCE: AFPTV SOUNDBITE 1: Salvador Sanchez Ceren, Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) candidate (Spanish, 21 sec): "We feel very happy, myself, Oscar, Medardo, Margarita and Elda, because you have given us the victory in this first round." SOUNDBITE 2: Salvador Sanchez Ceren, Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) candidate (Spanish, 13 sec): "Our hopes have come true, you’ve secured the continuity of change. Because if you gave us the victory in the first round, you will also bring us victory in the second round." - VAR Salvador Sanchez Ceren, Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) candidate, during a press conference /// -------------------------------------------------------- AFP TEXT STORY: El Salvador ex-guerrilla in presidential vote runoff SAN SALVADOR, Feb 03, 2014 (AFP) - A former leftist guerrilla narrowly missed victory in El Salvador's presidency race Sunday, and will now face a run-off vote with a conservative rival, according to official results. With 81 percent of the vote counted, ruling leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) candidate Salvador Sanchez Ceren had nearly 49 percent of the vote, just missing the 50 percent needed to avoid a runoff. He will now face former San Salvador mayor Norman Quijano, 67, of the conservative Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) in a second round of voting on March 9, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal said. "They gave us a triumph in the first round and we're sure that in the second round the difference will not be 10 points, it will be more than 10 points, it will be a great victory," Sanchez Ceren told reporters. Quijano, who obtained nearly 39 percent of the vote, is hoping to eke out a victory with support from smaller conservative parties that did poorly in Sunday's election. Having made it to a run-off vote "is proof that we can win," Quijano told a group of supporters, adding that he was ready for the "great battle" on March 9. Sanchez Ceren, 69, is the country's vice president and is hoping to succeed President Mauricio Funes, also of the FMLN. Voting took place without major violence in the poverty-stricken country, and election authorities said the turnout was lower than in previous elections...