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Funes Leads, Ávila Gains in El Salvador
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Left-wing presidential candidate Mauricio Funes is leading in El Salvador, according to a poll by Borge & Asociados published in El Diario de Hoy. 41.5 per cent of respondents would support Funes of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) in next year’s election, up 3.9 points since July.
Rodrigo Ávila of the governing conservative Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) is second with 37.8 per cent, up 7.3 points in four months. One-in-five respondents remain undecided.
ARENA’s Antonio Saca, a media businessman, was elected in March 2004, garnering 57.73 per cent of the vote. ARENA candidates have won the last four presidential elections in the Central American country. Saca is ineligible for a consecutive term in office.
In September 2007, Funes became the FMLN’s presidential nominee. In March 2008, Ávila, a former National Police chief, won ARENA’s three-candidate internal nationwide primary.
The FMLN was once an umbrella armed group of left-wing revolutionaries fighting against the Salvadoran establishment. In the early 1990s, the FMLN was disbanded and became a legal political party.
On Oct. 27, Funes reiterated that he would maintain a close relationship with Washington if elected and regardless of who becomes the next president of the United States, saying, "I will work hand-in-hand with the American president-elect, because the relationship between our countries is government-to-government."
The next legislative election is scheduled for Jan. 18, 2009, with a presidential ballot following on Mar. 15.
Polling Data
Which candidate would you vote for in the next presidential election?
|
Oct. 2008 |
Jul. 2008 |
Jun. 2008 |
|
|
Mauricio Funes (FMLN) |
41.5% |
37.6% |
37.5% |
|
Rodrigo Ávila (ARENA) |
37.8% |
30.5% |
23.2% |
|
Other candidates |
-- |
0.4% |
0.8% |
|
Undecided |
20.7% |
31.6% |
38.5% |
Source: Borge & Asociados / El Diario de Hoy
Methodology: Interviews with 1,200 Salvadoran adults, conducted from Oct. 15 to Oct. 26, 2008. Margin of error is 2.8 per cent.