Guatemala election: Uncertainty reigns as top candidates barred

[Judi Lynn]

1 minute ago



Sandra Torres is the frontrunner according to the most recent polls

Guatemalans have been to choose a new president, new congress members and new mayors.

Nineteen people were competing to succeed President Jimmy Morales. Two candidates who were tipped as favourites have been barred from running.

The election is not expected to yield an outright winner, as candidates need to win over 50% of the vote.

Gang violence and poverty are the main topics that have dominated campaigning.

Thelma Aldana, the former attorney-general, and Zury Ríos, the daughter of the late military ruler Efraín Ríos Montt, have been barred from running for the presidency. Another candidate was arrested in Miami on suspicion of conspiring to import cocaine to the US.

More:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-48621524

(Zury Ríos is the daughter of the recently deceased US-approved dictator of Guatemala, Efraín Ríos Montt, who was tried and found guilty of genocide for the mass murders of Mayan indigenous people. The judgement was contested and a new trial arranged which he avoided by dying. Zury also is married to a U.S. former Republican Congressman, Jerry Weller, from Illinois. Her father was deeply supported by Ronald Reagan, and offered the "peasants" the choice of either "bullets" or "beans" depending on their support of his dictatorship.)