Guatemala goes to the polls in general elections marked by corruption

9.3 million Guatemalans are called to cast their vote during this first round, from 7 am to 6 pm (local time), to decide the future of the country for the next four years.

If none of the candidates obtains half the votes, a Second round election, which has been scheduled for August 20.

It is expected to know the name of the person who will replace the current president, Alejandro Giammattei, who was ranked during a recent survey as the president with the least popularity of the last four presidents from the country.

In these elections, 160 deputies will also be elected, who will make up a new Congress, as well as 340 members of municipal corporations.

Similarly, 20 legislators will be elected to go to the Central American Parliament, a political institution based in Guatemala City and which consecrates the union between Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic and Panama.

These are the most likely candidates to win during this first round:

The third attempt of former first lady Sandra Torres

One of the names that sounds the most is that of the former first lady Sandra Torres Casanova, who leads the intention to vote and has had a long journey to get there.

With presidential aspirations, she was first lady between 2008 and 2011, however, Guatemalan law dictates that direct family members of the president cannot run for office.

However, she divorced former President Álvaro Colom Caballeros in 2011 to make her candidacy official, which was invalidated for legal fraud.

Finally he was able to register for the next two elections (2015 and 2019), but he did not achieve the necessary votes in either of the two appointments. Against her, in 2019 she was arrested for alleged illegal financing of her campaigns, but in 2022 her case was closed.

Now, in 2023, he arrives stomping with his promise to end poverty and gangs, amid controversial statements, which for many resemble those of the Salvadoran president, Nayib Bukele, whose “firm hand” policy against gangs in his country he has toured the world.

Diplomacy, the ‘ace up the sleeve’ of edmond mullet

Mulet is the only man who participates in these elections in the race to reach the Presidential House of Guatemala. A center-right who has assured that, if elected, he will focus his work on fighting corruption.

At the age of 72, he presented an ambitious plan with which he would seek to modernize the Central American country by prioritizing education, the fight against malnutrition, and expanding access to medicines.

The candidate has said that his country “is going like Nicaragua”, after denouncing persecution against judges, prosecutors, opposition political parties and journalists, like him, who was a columnist for the newspaper ‘El Periodico’.

He was ambassador for more than 20 years in the European Union and the United States, in addition to being a United Nations official. The Guatemalan who has gone the furthest in the international organization, with 22 missions around the world.

His extensive diplomatic experience is one of his most applauded achievements and polls place him as the second favorite candidate in voting intentions.

Zury Ríos Sosa promises to be “relentless” with the gangs

In third place in the polls is Zury Rios Sosa, daughter of the former coup dictator, Efraín Ríos Montt, who was convicted of indigenous genocide and died in impunity.

For the 2015 and 2019 elections, she was not allowed to run because she was the daughter of a general who came to power through weapons, but for this contest her candidacy was endorsed by the Constitutional Court.

Ríos Sosa has promised to be “relentless” with gangs, one of the problems that most worries Guatemalans.

According to the Center for Economic Research, the homicide rate in Guatemala increased for the second consecutive year in 2022, with 17.3 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, largely attributed to gangs.

The candidate was a congressman for 16 years of the party her father founded and fighting against “21st century socialism” has been another of her campaign slogans. A speech recently supported by the former president of Chile Sebastián Piñera and the former president of Colombia Álvaro Uribe.

Corruption Splashes the Electoral Process

These are widely controversial and questioned elections. During the last week, the American daily ‘The New York Times’ revealed allegations of bribery to magistrates of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE).

The complaint in question ensures that, last year, a Guatemalan magistrate took a large amount of cash from a meeting at the United States embassy in Guatemala. The incident has sparked criticism and accusations of complicity in an alleged bribe that targets allies of President Giammattei.

The name of the magistrate corresponds to Blanca Alfaro, belonging to the TSE, who assured that they gave her a bribe to influence the Guatemalan elections.

Dozens of top anti-corruption officials have been forced into exile due to the risks they run for their work. This last electoral process has been classified as the most controversial in Guatemala since the implementation of democracy in 1986.

On the other hand, local media have branded three candidates with a chance of winning as “arbitrary expulsion” by the TSE, according to some experts.

They are the indigenous leader Thelma Cabrera, the son of former president Álvaro Arzú Irigoyen (1996-2000), Roberto Arzú García Granados and businessman Carlos Pineda, who led the polls.

Threats before the elections

Less than 24 hours after the polls open, the electoral board of the department of San Marcos, in the northwest of the country, reported threats. The entity demanded greater security in the area.

“We received death threats by telephone and we have resigned for fear of an attempt on our lives,” representatives of the electoral board of the municipality of Malacatán, 280 kilometers from Guatemala City, told local journalists.

During the last week, the authorities announced the deployment of more than 68,000 police and military agents to guarantee security during this first round.

With EFE and local media