El Salvador court ratifies ruling-party presidential candidate's win

Salvador Sanchez Ceren, the presidential candidate for the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), gives a speech to thousands of supporters gathered to celebrate their victory in the presidential election in San Salvador March 15, 2014. REUTERS/Jessica Orellana

SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - El Salvador's electoral court on Sunday confirmed the victory of ruling-party candidate Salvador Sanchez Ceren in a presidential election a week earlier and threw out his rival's request to annul the tight contest.

The president of the court, Eugenio Chicas, said it determined that Ceren, from the leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, won 50.11 percent of the votes while Norman Quijano of the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (Arena) won 49.89 percent.