2023-08-20 12:03:40
GUATEMALA, (Xinhua) – More than 9.3 million Guatemalans are summoned this Sunday to vote and elect the next president of the country for the next four years.
The former first lady, Sandra Torres, will face deputy Bernardo Arévalo, son of former reformist president Juan José Arévalo, in a second electoral round.
For Torres, this is his fourth attempt to reach the presidency and his third time in a second round, after losing in 2019 to current president Alejandro Giammattei and in 2015 to Jimmy Morales.
In the June 25 election, Torres and his Unión Nacional de la Esperanza (UNE) party won first place with 15.7 percent of the vote, while Árevalo obtained 11.8 percent.
The deputy from the leftist Movimiento Semilla was the big surprise of this election, the first time he has aspired to the presidency, after having given up as his party’s candidate in 2019 to make way for prosecutor Thelma Aldana.
Arévalo was ratified by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) of Guatemala as a participant in this second round, despite the efforts of the Guatemalan Public Ministry, which is investigating alleged irregularities in the legal registration of Seed.
Both candidates enter this second round with various promises to combat corruption in the Guatemalan state and to take measures to improve the security of the country, which is threatened by gang activity and drug trafficking.
Guatemala registered a rate of 17 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2022, which, added to the criminal activity of gangs, places it as one of the most violent countries in the Central American region.
The applicants have placed emphasis on improving social assistance to combat poverty that, according to World Bank data, affects more than half of its population.
For this election, the TSE has enabled 3,482 voting centers throughout the country and in Guatemalan consulates abroad, mainly in the United States.
Xinhua (xinhua-news.com)
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