Sandra Cuffe | The Washington Post

GUATEMALA CITY — Guatemalans on Sunday elected Alejandro Giammattei as their next president. When he takes office Jan. 14, he will inherit a nation plagued by years of political scandal, where a recent surge in migration has laid bare the monumenta l challenges ahead.

Giammattei, the right-wing Vamos party candidate who is a former prisons director, beat out former first lady Sandra Torres for the next four-year term. The presidential runoff election came at a crucial moment — as Guatemala prepares for the possible implementation of a “safe third country” agreement with the United States, a plan touted by the Trump administration but with potentially grave consequences for a country whose own citizens are fleeing in droves.

Guatemala is the leading country of origin of migrants and asylum seekers apprehended at the U.S. southern border.

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On August 11, 2019, the voters of Guatemala will cast again  their votes to the second round of the 2019 presidential elections. The second round of elections, also called as runoff elections, are usually held when the leading candidate fails to generate at least 50% of the votes cast. Only the top two candidates will be eligible in the runoff elections who, in this year’s election, are former first lady Sandra Torres of the National Unity of Hope (Spanish: Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza, UNE), and Alejandro Guammattei of the “Let’s Go” Party (Spanish: Vamos Por Una Guatemala Diferente, VAMOS).

The first round of voting was held last June 16 with Torres garnering 25.73% of the votes cast while Giammattei got 13.89%. They competed with 17 other presidential candidates. The rest of the presidential candidates and the votes received is as follows:

Continue reading “Guatemalan Elections: Torres vs Giammattei heads to the runoff” →