Legislative Elections in El Salvador

Back on March 12, 2006, the Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) won a narrow majority in El Salvador's Legislative Assembly election. They obtained 39.4% of the vote and 34 seats while their nearest rival, the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), won 39.1% and 32 seats. ARENA is a conservative leaning party that has dominated politics in El Salavador since the 1980's, and the FMLN is composed of left-leaning groups. Before becoming one of the two major political parties in the country, the FMLN was a guerilla organization that fought the government.