Bernardo Arevalo, the spokesman of the centre-left Seed movement, won the second round of the presidential elections in Guatemala with 59 percent of the votes. This was announced by Irma Palencia, head of the Supreme Electoral Court of Guatemala (YÖK), at a conference posted on the organization’s Facebook page (its owner, Meta, was considered extremist and banned in Russia). TASS writes about it.
“We can confirm that Bernard Arevalo is the winner of the selection.” It received more than 2.38 million votes after processing 96% of the protocols. For the centrist National Hope League party, her rival, Sandra Torres, received over 1.46 million votes, with 36.24% of the vote. Voter turnout was 45% and the total number of registered voters exceeded 9 million.
Arevalo pledged in his election campaign to fight drug cartels, increase the police force by 12,000, build nearly 4,000 kilometers of roads, reform the penal code to bring “civil death” (total deprivation of civil and political rights) for corruption. It also plans to establish a national anti-corruption system and establish a new constituency for Guatemalan citizens living abroad with representation in Congress.
Observers noted around 50 violations during the voting process, but these did not affect the final result, according to WSI. President Alejandro Giammattei took personal control of the investigation into previous threats against a WSI member. In addition, a few hours before the end of the voting process, no one was injured in the attack on a polling station in the central part of the country, while two people were detained.
The President is elected for a four-year term and cannot run for another term. If an elected candidate receives an absolute majority of the votes, this candidate is considered as such. He takes office on 14 January of the year following the election.
Before Lukashenka compared to Belarusian dictatorship with US elections.