San Salvador, El Salvador  - A former leftist guerrilla group that fought for power in El Salvador in a bloody civil war in the 1980s has now taken power in a presidential election marking the first peaceful transition of power between left and right in the Central American nation.

The party's candidate, Mauricio Funes, won Sunday's ballot with over 51 per cent of the votes, according to preliminary official results. The rise of the Farabundo Marti Front for National Liberation (FMLN) put an end to a 20-year rule by right-wing party ARENA.

San Salvador, El Salvador  - Salvadorans headed to the polls Sunday to elect a new president in a vote that could help the strife- torn Central American country put its violent political past behind it.

Polling stations opened at 6 am (1200 GMT) and closed 11 hours later, in an intense day with no major incidents in which 4.3 million people were entitled to vote.

San Salvador, El Salvador  - Salvadorans headed to the polls Sunday to elect a new president in a vote that could help the strife- torn Central American country put its violent political past behind it.

For the first time in 20 years of rule by the right-wing party ARENA, the leftist FMLN is within reach of the presidency. The election between leftist former TV journalist Mauricio Funes, 49, and right-wing former police chief Rodrigo Avila, 45, however remains too close to call, according to the latest surveys of public opinion.

San Salvador, El Salvador - After a long campaign characterized by personal attacks, Rodrigo Avila - the ruling-party candidate in Sunday's presidential election - insists that El Salvador has yet to attain "political peace."

In an interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, he said that a potential triumph by his only competition in the election would put El Salvador "within the realm of influence" of Hugo Chavez.

Leftist Mauricio Funes has denied such allegations.

San Salvador, El Salvador  - Mauricio Funes, the leftist presidential candidate in Sunday's El Salvadoran presidential election, knows he will be facing the "myths and fears" about leftist governments in the war-torn Central American country.

In what opinion polls frame as a very close election, Funes seeks to defeat the ruling-party candidate, Rodrigo Avila, in an effort to put an end to a 20-year rule by the right-wing party ARENA.