Guatemalan presidential elections head to runoff in August

By James Blears

Guatemala's Supreme Electoral Tribunal announces the presidential election will go into round two on 20 August.

Every presidential election since 1996 has followed the same pattern, with no candidate coming close to winning outright, which would have required fifty percent or more of the vote.

With most of the votes cast counted, former first Lady Sandra Torres of the National Unity of Hope Party, who has been runner-up in the last two presidential elections, currently has 14.9 percent.

Bernardo Arevalo, who is known as "Uncle Bernie" of the Seed Party has 12.3 percent.

Guatemala's Supreme Court barred three major candidates from running. Those candidates then advised their supporters to either shun the election process or spoil their ballot papers, so many have ended up as null and void.

However, this process also involves voting for the 160 members of Congress, twenty members of the Central American Parliament, and 340 Mayors nationwide. 

Poverty is widespread and chronic in Guatemala, street gangs remain untamed, and few jobs are available, so many people frequently emigrate northward to the borders of the United States.

The situation significantly worsened after 2019, when then-President Jimmy Morales, a former actor, threw out a UN-backed anti-corruption commission.

That badly-dented confidence in the system of due law and order, as well as the impartial ability to delve into wrong doing at all levels, from top to bottom.