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A vote recount is under way in El Salvador, where the electoral authorities said the presidential
election was too close to call. Preliminary results suggest left-wing candidate
Salvador Sanchez Ceren has a lead of 0.22 percentage points over his conservative rival
Norman Quijano. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal asked the candidates
to refrain from claiming victory, which both had done on Sunday.
El Salvador remains deeply divided 22 years after the end of its civil war.
Supreme Electoral Tribunal president Eugenio Chicas said there were "discrepancies" in
the tallies of 14 ballot boxes, which will be reviewed.
"El Salvador will be an example of transparency. We will give the people the legitimacy it
demands from these elections by recounting every single vote," said Mr Chicas.
He said it could take until Thursday to confirm the official results.
'Court bias' But Mr Sanchez Ceren has reaffirmed that he
won the vote, renewing calls for Mr Quijano to join him in the new administration and
"together build a new country". "The men and women of El Salvador are the
ones who decide, and if you don't accept the result, you are violating the will of the
people," said Mr Sanchez Ceren. His opponent has also refused to concede.
Mr Quijano called on the Salvadoran people to defend his victory and said the armed forces
were "aware of this fraud that is taking place". He also questioned the impartiality of the
country's top electoral court and said the Prosecutor's Office should take over the recount
process. "The Supreme Tribunal Electoral has been biased
all along. "In our count, we have won the vote. We are
asking for the international observers to remain in El Salvador for a few more days,"
Mr Quijano wrote in his Twitter account. Political rift
The poll reflects the deep political rift that still divides the Central American nation
more than two decades after the end of its civil war.