The right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance remains El Salvador's top political force despite important advances by leftist parties, unofficial election results showed.
"I can say with total confidence that we have control of the National Assembly and the mayorship of San Salvador," said Armando Calderon Sol, president of the ruling party and mayoral candidate for San Salvador.Unofficial figures accepted Monday by representatives of the different parties gave the ruling ARENA party 47 percent of the vote with more than half of the ballots counted.
But the greatest advances compared to 1989 presidential elections were made by the left-of-center Democratic Convergence. The coalition of social democratic parties appeared to be winning 13 percent of the vote, compared with only 3.8 percent in 1989.
Convergence leader Ruben Zamora claimed a "partial victory," noting that 13 percent was enough to give his party representation in the Legislature for the first time.