Guatemala's presidential election appears headed to runoff

With more than 96 percent of polling stations reporting Monday, comedian Jimmy Morales, who has never held elective office, was leading with 24 percent of the vote for Guatemala's next president. The top two finishers in the field of 14 will advance to a runoff to be held Oct. 25.

|
Luis Soto/AP
Presidential candidate Jimmy Morales of the National Front of Convergence party, listens to a question during a press conference in Guatemala City, early Monday, Sept. 7, 2015.

A former television comic was heading for a runoff with either a wealthy businessman or a former first lady in voting for Guatemala's next president, days after the Central American nation's leader resigned over a corruption scandal.

With more than 96 percent of polling stations reporting Monday, comedian Jimmy Morales, who has never held elective office, was leading with 24 percent of the vote.

Businessman and longtime politician Manuel Baldizon and ex-first lady Sandra Torres were in a tie, each with about 19.4 percent. Baldizon led Torres by less than 800 votes among nearly 5 million votes cast.

The top two finishers in the field of 14 will advance to a runoff to be held Oct. 25.

Analyst Christians Castillo said Morales' surprising performance was a sign of voter discontent, "a vote of punishment" against more traditional candidates.

Electoral officials estimated a nearly 80 percent turnout.

The candidates in Sunday's election faced an uncomfortable challenge: trying to win votes in a nation where former President Otto Perez Molina remains in court custody awaiting a decision on whether he will be tried on graft charges.

Most of the candidates were old-guard figures picked to run before energized prosecutors backed by a mass anti-corruption movement toppled Perez Molina's administration. Many voters were so skeptical that they campaigned for the election itself to be postponed to give them a new crop of choices.

Morales boasted of his outsider status and said he is part of the uprising against corruption. He has promised greater transparency, including media review of government contracts.

Baldizon had led most polls with roughly 30 percent backing. His running mate is accused by prosecutors of influence trafficking, but as a candidate enjoys immunity from prosecution.

Baldizon has acknowledged Guatemalans' disgust with crime, corruption and impunity. His campaign website vows a "modernization of the democratic state" to reform government and combat poverty and social inequality.

Torres divorced former President Alvaro Colom ahead of the last presidential race to try to get around rules barring presidential relatives from running, but was still ruled ineligible. A businesswoman and longtime political party figure, she is proposing a coalition government to respond to the concerns of outraged citizens.

A key question going into the election was the level of protest vote in the face of the customs corruption scandal, which also forced Perez Molina's previous vice president, Roxana Baldetti, to resign. She, too, is accused in the scheme. But the number of null or blank votes was minimal.

Guatemalans were also voting for vice president, members of Congress and the Central American Parliament, and local authorities for municipalities nationwide.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Guatemala's presidential election appears headed to runoff
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2015/0907/Guatemala-s-presidential-election-appears-headed-to-runoff
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe