The president-elect of El Salvador Mauricio Funes, together with his supporters, celebrated the victory in the elections held this Sunday in this Central American country, giving a speech in which he said that with their vote the people had signed "a new accord on peace and reconciliation."
Translation: MR Zine/Yoshie Furuhashi
The president-elect of El Salvador Mauricio Funes, together with his supporters, celebrated the victory in the elections held this Sunday in this Central American country, giving a speech in which he said that with their vote the people had signed "a new accord on peace and reconciliation."
Shortly after the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) issued its second bulletin that officially confirmed the FMLN‘s lead, Funes addressed the nation, congratulating all the citizens who participated in the elections.
"I want to thank all who voted for me, all who defeated fear, all who chose the path of hope," he said.
Funes added: "Today, the public who believed in hope and defeated fear have triumphed. This is a victory for all the Salvadoran people."
Funes made a phone call to congratulate the rival party for their work, emphasizing that "ARENA (Nationalist Republican Alliance) will become the opposition from now on, and in that capacity, rest assured that the party will be respected and heard."
He invited various social and political groups to build a new welfare state for the people.
"I want to appeal to the other political forces to work toward unity," Funes said, as he promised to carry out "preferential actions" to benefit the poor rather than the rich, in order to solidify an efficient and competitive economy and a broad business base.
Funes said that, beginning with his inauguration, he will work to make El Salvador "the most dynamic economy in Central America."
"I want to be the president of social change and reconstruction. It’s time to move forward to the future and leave behind the revenges of the past," he added.
Funes also said that he will collaborate with former President Elías Saca in the last days of his administration.
With the victory of the Salvadoran left, the country breaks with 20 years of the rule of the ARENA party, which in these elections depended on a victory of its candidate Rodrigo Ávila.
According to the TSE’s report, 8,654 certified election results containing 90.68% of the votes were scrutinized. The victory of the FMLN was confirmed by 51.27% of the votes that it won, more than the 48.73% that went to the conservative ARENA party.
The original article "Funes: ‘Hemos firmado un nuevo acuerdo de paz y reconciliación’" was published by TeleSur on 15 March 2009. Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi