Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro ebulliently congratulated president-elect Salvador Sanchez Ceren of El Salvador’s FMLN party, who was declared winner on March 10 by just 6000 votes after a tense electoral race.

The left-wing Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) resisted a string of US backed governments throughout the 1980s during El Salvador’s devastating civil war.

Maduro wrote on Twitter: “Sanchez Ceren is a legendary leader for democracy and human rights in El Salvador. The results mean another triumph for left-wing Latin America, thank you for waking up history.”

Maduro also quoted the 1980s song “Sombrero Azul”, written by revolutionary Venezuelan songwriter Ali Primera, saying: “Go for it Salvadoran, there is no small bird who after spreading his wings has detained his flight.”

But, as though following a new trend stretching across the continent, defeated candidate Norman Quijano of the right-wing National Republican Alliance (ARENA), refused to accept the results. He has called for a full recount, insisting that he was the real winner.

However, Eugenio Chicas, head of El Salvador's electoral tribunal, said: “We put our technical teams to work all night, which is why I can tell you with certainty that the result of this election is irreversible.”

Quijano’s hardline stance is similar to that taken by right-wing Venezuelan politician Henrique Capriles Radonski after losing to Nicolas Maduro in presidential elections in April last year.

It comes as little surprise, therefore, that both men’s campaign strategy can be traced to the same notorious adviser ― Venezuelan marketing consultant JJ Rendon.

Rendon boasts on his professional web page: “We possess the necessary experience to control and cause crises of public opinion that can disestablish the legitimacy of a governmental entity or the image of a public figure.”

[Abridged from Venezuela Analysis.]