Guatemala City, (EFE).- Guatemala will decide this Sunday its future for the next four years with the holding of general elections, in elections where its new president, vice president and 160 deputies to Congress will be defined for the period 2024-2028
The 9.3 million Guatemalans empowered to cast their vote will also define the new Central American Parliament (20 legislators) and 340 new municipal corporations.
The electoral process has been the most controversial since the implantation of democracy in 1986 and was soiled in the last week with the accusations disclosed by the American media New York Times, which detail allegations of bribery of Supreme Court magistrates Electoral (TSE).
To this is added the arbitrary expulsion by the TSE, according to experts, of three candidates with the possibility of winning the election: the indigenous leader Thelma Cabrera, the son of former president Álvaro Arzú Irigoyen (1996-2000), Roberto Arzú García Granados, and businessman Carlos Pineda, leader of the polls.
The remaining candidates
Former first lady Sandra Torres Casanova, of the National Unity of Hope (UNE), appears as the main candidate with the intention of voting by the Guatemalan population, according to polls released in the last week.
Torres Casanova was the wife of the former president, Álvaro Colom Caballeros (2008-2012) and is participating in the elections for the third time.
For his part, former United Nations official Edmond Mulet is emerging as second place, always according to the polls, followed by the daughter of the coup dictator Efraín Ríos Montt, Zury Ríos Sosa.
If none of the candidates obtains half of the votes, the Guatemalan Constitution indicates that there must be a second electoral round, scheduled for next August 20.
The winner of the elections will replace, on January 14, the current president, Alejandro Giammattei, who according to a survey released this week is considered one of the four least popular governments on the continent.
Almost 3,500 voting centers
Less than 24 hours before the start of the elections, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal reports no news in the 3,482 voting centers installed in the 22 departments (provinces) of the Central American country.
According to the same source, there are 24,427 polling stations so that the 9.3 million registered Guatemalans can cast their vote on the five printed ballots that will be delivered individually.
Said ballots are to elect a president, deputies to Congress by national list, deputies to Congress by region, deputies to the Central American Parliament and municipal mayors.
Guatemala City, in the center of the country, is where the largest number of voting centers is concentrated, since 2.1 million people are authorized to vote in the metropolitan area.
Similarly, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal has 17 polling stations in 10 states of the United States, where there are 90,000 compatriots registered to vote. However, low participation is expected as on past occasions.
The elections are being held in the midst of an environment of uncertainty and apathy where 13.5 percent of the population plans to vote void, according to a survey published this week by the firm ProDatos in the local newspaper Prensa Libre.
During the last three months, politicians, analysts and international observers have pointed out that the road to the elections has been plagued with irregularities and questionable acts by the electoral authorities.