Guatemalan former comedian leads field in presidential election first round
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Version 0 of 1. A former television comic is 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 country’s leader resigned over a corruption scandal. Related: Guatemala's president spends night in jail after resignation With more than 96% of polling stations reporting, comedian Jimmy Morales, who has never held elective office, was leading with 24% of the vote. Businessman and longtime politician Manuel Baldizón and former first lady Sandra Torres were in a tie, each with about 19.4%. Baldizón led Torres by less than 800 votes among nearly five million votes cast. The top two finishers in the field of 14 will advance to a runoff to be held on 25 October. Analyst Christians Castillo said Morales’s surprising performance was a sign of voter discontent, “a vote of punishment” against more traditional candidates. Electoral officials estimated a nearly 80% turnout. The candidates in Sunday’s election faced an uncomfortable challenge: trying to win votes in a nation where the former president Otto Pérez 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 energised prosecutors backed by a mass anti-corruption movement toppled Pérez Molina’s administration. Many voters were so sceptical 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. Baldizón had led most polls with roughly 30% backing. His running mate is accused by prosecutors of influence trafficking, but as a candidate enjoys immunity from prosecution. Baldizón has acknowledged Guatemalans’ disgust with crime, corruption and impunity. His campaign website vows a “modernisation of the democratic state” to reform government and combat poverty and social inequality. Torres divorced former president Álvaro 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 Pérez 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. |