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(The following article is from the February 1-14, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

The Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) finished first in El Salvador's parliamentary elections on January 18, increasing chances that Mauricio Funes, the progressive movement's candidate, will win the presidential vote in March. Such an outcome would continue the recent pan-Latin American trend of election victories for left political forces.

     The FMLN received 42.6% of the votes on Jan. 18, taking 35 seats out of 84 in the Legislative Assembly. This is an increase of 2.9% in votes and three seats over the March 2006 parliamentary election. A total of 943,936 voters backed the FMLN, up from 624,635 three years ago. All these figures mark a high-water point in electoral success for the FMLN, which signed a peace accord with the country's US-backed government in 1992. The accord ended a lengthy civil war in which the military and right-wing forces carried out numerous massacres against peasants, labour movement, and opposition sectors.

     The latest parliamentary vote also marks a decline for the ruling right-wing ARENA party (Alianza Republicana Nacionalista). ARENA dropped from 39.4% of the vote in 2006 to 38.5% in this campaign, and fell to 32 seats from its former 34. The ARENA popular vote rose from 620,000 up to 854,166, reflecting a higher voter turnout this year.

     Smaller right-wing parties also saw a decline in their vote shares and seats, but did elect 17 deputies, leaving the FMLN in a minority in the Assembly. In municipal elections conducted at the same time, the FMLN made overall gains across the country, but lost control of the mayoralty of the capital, San Salvador.