In elections, Guatemala rejects establishment candidates

GUATEMALA CITY – A citizen revolt against Guatemala’s political establishment that helped oust former President Otto Perez Molina in the midst of a corruption scandal appears to have continued at the ballot box.

Voters choosing a new president Sunday rendered the pre-scandal favorite to third place, possibly shoving him out of the runoff.

But they showed their lukewarm enthusiasm for the entire slate of 14 candidates who most considered as representing the status quo in the small Central American country.

The leader going into the Oct. 25 runoff, former television comedian Jimmy Morales, only got just under 24 percent of the vote with more than 98 percent of ballots counted Monday.

Longtime politician Manuel Baldizon, who was widely expected to be the next president before the customs corruption scandal took down top government officials, was in a fight to make the runoff, losing votes at the final count to former first lady Sandra Torres, who had 19.7 percent to Baldizon’s 19.6 percent. He trailed Torres by more than 5,000 votes of at least 5 million cast.

“The results put us in the second round,” Torres said at a press conference, adding that the trend in her favor is irreversible.

Baldizon did not speak publicly Monday.

“This is the political collapse of Manuel Baldizon that no one could have imagined,” said Daniel Haering, professor at the University of Francisco Marroquin government school. “From now on, Guatemalan politicians are going to have to respond to various political demands of the people.”

Luis Fernando Mack, a professor at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences in Guatemala, said the electoral tribunal has a delicate situation on its hands and important decisions to make to resolve the fight for second place.

“The fight will be fierce, they’re going to fight for every vote,” Mack said.

The candidates in Sunday’s election faced an uncomfortable challenge: trying to win popular support in a nation where Perez 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 energized prosecutors backed by a mass anti-corruption movement toppled Perez Molina’s administration. Many voters were so skeptical that they campaigned for the election itself to be postponed to give them a new crop of choices.

Morales, who had no previous political experience, 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.