By: Staff Writer
June 26, 2023
Guatemala’s presidential election has been whittled down to two candidates from 20 as a former first lady aims to become the first female president of the country, trying to outpace her closest competitor, on the road to the August 20 presidential runoff.
This year’s Guatemala’s election has thrown up a major surprise with the centrist Bernardo Arévalo claiming a spot in the second round amid growing anger over political corruption and the erosion of democracy in Central America’s most populous nation.
Alongside El Salvador and Nicaragua, Guatemala is one of several Central American countries which has taken an alarming authoritarian turn in recent years, with activists denouncing growing attacks on the media and more than two dozen judges and prosecutors forced into exile.
Press freedom has also come under attack. This month, the founder of a leading newspaper, Jose Zamora, had exposed many instances of graft and was sentenced to six years in prison after being convicted of money laundering.
Despite this, the election fielded more than 20 candidates, with none that were expected to secure a majority to win in the first round of voting, with observers predicting a runoff on Aug. 20 between the top two finishers, which is Former First Lady, Sandra Torres and former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bernardo Arevalo.
Torres fell short of the required 50 percent plus one vote for an outright victory, even though she was set to win the first round. None of the other presidential candidates polled near the required 50 percent threshold.
The stakes in this election are high, considering the deterioration of transparency, human rights, and ongoing challenges of poverty, corruption, and violence in recent years.
Officials said voting was mostly calm, but there were reports of violence in the lead-up in the municipality of San José del Golfo, about 17 miles from Guatemala City. The electoral board said polling station workers on a bus heading to training on Saturday were stopped by a group as they reached the municipality.
The electoral authority barred several top candidates who were viewed as threatening to the political and economic establishment. That move was seen as another assault on Guatemala’s fraying democracy. Under an increasingly authoritarian government, the judiciary has forced into exile dozens of prosecutors and judges focused on battling corruption.