The surprise presidential candidate in Guatemala, Bernardo Arevalo, the subject of attempts to disqualify him during the electoral campaign, won the second round of the ballot on Sunday with the promise to end corruption.
“Fortunately, we already have an extremely important trend,” said Irma Palencia, president of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), announcing that Mr. Arevalo had obtained 59% of the votes after the counting of 95% of the votes, against 36% to her rival, former First Lady Sandra Torres.
The ballot took place without any “significant incident” being reported, the TSE had indicated earlier, emphasizing without further details a “historic percentage of participation”.
The two candidates in the running, Bernardo Arevalo, 64, and Sandra Torres, 67, both claim to be center left. But if the first crystallizes hopes for change in a deeply unequal country, her rival is considered the representative of the establishment.
At the head of the National Unity of Hope (UNE) party, Sandra Torres has promised social assistance programs and various subsidies for the poor. However, she won support from the right and evangelicals and multiplied conservative rhetoric.
“Traditional forces have bet on Torres because Arevalo is considered a risk to the continuity of the system,” political analyst Arturo Matute told AFP.
The former wife of former left-wing president Alvaro Colom (2008-2012) enjoys the silent support of outgoing president Alejandro Giammattei, whose mandate was marked by repression against magistrates and journalists who denounced corruption. It also has the support of the powerful economic elite allied to the government.
According to the latest poll on Wednesday, Bernardo Arevalo was credited with 50% of the voting intentions, well ahead of Sandra Torres, several times unsuccessful candidate for president in the past, with 32%.
In the indigenous town of San Juan Sacatepéquez, about thirty kilometers from the capital, voters expressed their hopes for change.
“We can’t live anywhere anymore because there is a lot of crime,” said Maria Rac, a 66-year-old housewife. Efrain Boch, a 47-year-old trucker, said he hopes the new president will “address the corruption that affects us”.
“We are confident: the winner will be the people of Guatemala,” said Bernardo Arevalo after voting at a high school in the capital.
Sandra Torres made no statement after inserting her ballot into the ballot box.
Qualified to everyone’s surprise in the first round, Bernardo Arevalo crystallizes hopes for change, especially among young people who represent 16% of the 9.4 million registered.
“We have been the victims, the prey, of corrupt politicians for years,” he said on Wednesday. “To vote is to say clearly that it is the Guatemalan people who run this country, and not the corrupt,” he said.
This sociologist and former diplomat is the son of the country’s first democratically elected president, Juan José Arevalo (1945-1951).
The one who has focused her campaign on the fight against criminal gangs and against poverty, has multiplied the attacks against her rival, whom she described as a “foreigner” because she was born in Uruguay during her father’s exile.
In the home stretch of the campaign, on Friday, she even questioned the bias of the electoral process, saying she was “concerned about any alteration of the data” for counting votes by authorized persons from the TSE.
The spectacular breakthrough of Bernardo Arevalo worries the economic and political elites of the country, perceived as a danger to their interests, and the public prosecutor has multiplied the procedures against him.
On the advice of the prosecution, a judge ordered on July 12 the suspension of his Semilla party for alleged irregularities during its creation in 2017.
The Constitutional Court had suspended this decision, canceled Friday by the Supreme Court.
The day before, the prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche, sanctioned for “corruption” by Washington, had announced possible arrests to come from leaders of Semilla.
International community and analysts consider that the procedures of the public prosecutor’s office attempt to exclude Mr. Arevalo from the election.
Three decades after the end of its brutal civil war, Central America’s most populous country is mired in poverty, violence and corruption, driving thousands of Guatemalans to emigrate every year.
The new president will take office on January 14, 2024.
21/08/2023 04:39:02 – Guatemala (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
