Guatemalans elect president, deputies and mayors in disputed election

Guatemalans voted this Sunday to elect a president and a vice president for the next four years, in elections in which opposition candidates were excluded and there were indications to protect candidacies that augur the continuity of the system.

The first polls opened at 7:00 a.m. local time, in some places even with people lining up to cast their ballots. Vote centers will close at 6:00 p.m.

More than nine million Guatemalans were eligible to vote, while in the United States more than 90,000 Guatemalan emigrants were registered to vote, a figure that some civil organizations described as low.

In total there are 22 candidates for the presidency, but with three candidates excluded from the ballot by the authorities. Many Guatemalans have expressed disappointment with the options and a large number of null votes are expected along with potentially low turnout.

The last survey published by the newspaper Prensa Libre on Friday reflected three candidates as leaders in the intention to vote, all of them conservative.

In first place was former first lady Sandra Torres, from the UNE party, which offers social programs. She was followed by the candidate of the CABAL party, the former diplomat Edmond Mulet, who proposed reducing the number of deputies to Congress, and finally, Zury Ríos, of the VALOR Unionist coalition and daughter of the late former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt.

Also on the ballot are 160 deputies to Congress, 340 municipal mayors and 20 deputies to the Central American Parliament.

If no presidential candidate wins 50% of the vote, a second round of voting will take place between the top two candidates on August 20.

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