Guatemala’s Presidential Election Advances to Second Round
Sandra Torres and Bernardo Arevalo de Leon To Compete in Second Round of Guatemala Presidential Election
The Guatemalan Electoral Court has announced that Sandra Torres, leader of the National Hope Party (UNE), and left-wing candidate Bernardo Arevalo de Leon will compete for the presidency in the second round of elections on August 20th. This decision comes after Torres received the highest number of votes in the first round of voting.
The official results had been postponed on July 1st due to objections from political parties, but the court has now confirmed that the election calendar will proceed as planned.
Among the 22 candidates, Torres obtained 15.86 percent of the votes, while Arevalo de Leon received 11.77 percent, securing their places in the second round.
Interestingly, Manuel Conde, the candidate of the ruling party supported by current President Alejandro Giammattei, was unexpectedly eliminated in the initial election.
Yesterday, more than 8 million voters out of Guatemala’s population of 9.3 million exercised their democratic right to elect not only the president but also the vice president, 160 deputies to Congress, 20 deputies to the Central American Parliament, and 340 mayors.
All eyes will now be on the upcoming second round of the presidential election, as Torres and Arevalo de Leon compete to become the next leader of Guatemala.
