(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Left and right are waging a close presidential battle in El Salvador, according to a poll by Consulta Mitofsky released by TCS. 34.2 per cent of respondents would vote for Mauricio Funes of the left-leaning Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) in next year’s ballot, while 30.8 per cent would back Rodrigo Ávila of the governing conservative Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA).

Less than two per cent of respondents would vote for other candidates, and 33.3 per cent 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 Jul. 28, during an election rally, Funes declared: "Nothing and nobody will take the presidency away from me. (...) They [ARENA] have nothing left to say or to make up, and that is why they are desperate; because my hand will not tremble in fighting corruption."

The next legislative election is scheduled for Jan. 18, 2009, with a presidential ballot following on Mar. 15.

Polling Data

Which of these candidates would you vote for in the next presidential election?

Source: Consulta Mitofsky / TCS
Methodology: Face-to-face interviews with 1,200 Salvadoran adults, conducted from Jul. 18 to Jul. 20, 2008. Margin of error is 3.1 per cent.

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