By: Ziyin Niu

On Sunday night, Guatemala Voters cast ballots to elect the top presidential candidate. The polling comes as violence continues in Guatemala.

Partial results made on Sunday night may hold some surprises. With 25 percent of votes counted, Ms. Torres was in the lead by 15 percent. But Bernardo Arévalo, a centrist running on an anti-corruption platform, was in second with about 12 percent of the vote.

During the election, observers reported some irregularities. In the municipality of San José del Golfo, violence emerged about 17 miles from Guatemala City. By midday, voting in San José del Golfo had been suspended. More than 100 miles west in San Martín Zapotitlán, the police arrested 11 people in connection with irregularities including burning ballots. Other irregularities reported by election observers included isolated instances of buying votes in exchange for food and cash in parts of the country. Furthermore, another 31 people were arrested in different parts of Guatemala on allegations of violating electoral laws.

However, Martínez said she hoped the winner would pay attention to the needs of migrants as the number of Guatemalans leaving the country climbed. In addition, the violence has increased migration. Many Guatemalans cite fears of extortion and crime as reasons to emigrate. The homicides in Guatemalans have increased by nearly 6 percent in 2022 from the previous year, and there were also more and more murder victims.

Therefore, throughout the campaign season, El Salvador has cracked down on gangs and violent crime. All three leading candidates embraced the proposals. And each of them put forward a proposal to help economic hardship in Guatemalans.

Ms. Torres has promised to increase cash transfers and food assistance to poor families and is the leading candidate with levels of support of about 20 percent before the vote. Ms. Ríos, another familiar figure in Guatemalan politics, promotes her conservative credentials and aimed at improving conditions for women and L.G.T.B.Q. people in Congress.

As a result, the certification of the result by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal was delayed because the court granted an injunction. Due to that, the results of the races for president, vice president, all of the seats in Congress, and hundreds of local elections remain unofficial.

link to article:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/25/world/americas/guatemala-presidential-election.html