GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — A former first lady led early Monday in voting counting from Guatemala’s presidential election, although a runoff ballot appeared likely to determine the next leader of this Central American nation where tens of thousands have fled poverty and gang violence this year to seek a new life in the United States.

With votes tallied from just over a third of polling centers by late Sunday, Sandra Torres had 24% of the vote, followed by four-time presidential candidate Alejandro Giammattei with 15%. The early results were in line with expectations.

Businessman Roberto Arzú, diplomat Edmond Auguste Mulet Lesieur and indigenous human rights advocate Thelma Cabrera rounded out the top-five candidates for the presidency.

A candidate would need more than 50% of votes to win the first round outright The runoff election likely would take place in August. Presidents are limited to a single, four-year term.

The next president will take office in January needing to stem growing violence, poverty and outward migration. An estimated 1 percent of Guatemala’s population of some 16 million people has left the country this year.

WATCH: On the U.S.-Mexico border, crowds of migrants and a ‘broken’ system

Guatemalans are also clamoring for a crackdown on corruption: Three of the last four elected presidents have been arrested after their terms of office on charges of corruption.

Torres, 64, is a businesswoman who gained national prominence during the 2008-2012 government of her then husband, Álvaro Colom, who is among the former leaders to have been accused of corruption. The couple divorced in 2011.

“There is a belief that instead of advancing in these four years of government, we’ve gone backward,” said Marco René Cuellar, 39, the first to vote Sunday at the Mixed Rural School in the municipality of Santa Catarina Pinula. “We’ve lost our way as a country, but we should not lose faith in the democratic process we have.”

More than 8.1 million citizens were eligible to vote for the vice president, congressional representatives and mayors.

The election marked the first time that Guatemalans could cast ballots from abroad. At least 60,000 were eligible to vote in Los Angeles, New York, Maryland and Washington, all home to large numbers of Guatemalan emigres.

On Sunday, municipal officials and police stood guard as many waited in line to cast their ballots in an election dinged by threats of violence and possible fraud.

To the east of the capital, in the Zacapa department, voting stations didn’t open in the San Jorge municipality after organizers were threatened with violence. More than 7,000 people were unable to cast votes there. Voting was also called off in Esquipulas Palo Gordo, near the border with Mexico in the San Marcos department, amid accusations of vote-buying.

The attorney general’s office launched an investigation after a voter posted a video to social media showing how her ballot was allegedly already marked for Torres.

The campaign season was marked by a chaotic flurry of court rulings, shenanigans, illegal party-switching and allegations of malfeasance that torpedoed the runs of two of the three front-runners, including Chief Prosecutor Thelma Aldana.

Aldana gained international renown for leading crusading anti-corruption investigations in tandem with a U.N.-backed anti-graft commission operating in Guatemala, but was booted from the race on the grounds that she lacked a document certifying that she didn’t have any outstanding accounts from her time overseeing a public budget as prosecutor.

Outgoing President Jimmy Morales, who was barred from seeking re-election, took office in 2016 promising to root out corruption after his predecessor was brought down by a probe led by the U.N.’s International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala, or CICIG. But Morales soon became a target of CICIG himself for alleged campaign finance violations, starting a bitter dispute with the agency in which he terminated its mandate.

A recent poll from CID Gallup Latinoamerica found that nearly a third of Guatemalan adults surveyed believed the election would be plagued by fraud. Twenty percent said the election’s legitimacy would be suspect because so many candidates were kept from running.

Unemployment, violence, corruption, rising costs of living and the shoddy state of the country’s highways are among top concerns for the country’s electorate.

But Fernando Barrillas, 44-year-old Guatemalan citizen, said surging migration was also an issue for him.

“As long as the root causes that propel migration are not addressed, which are poverty and inequality, we will continue to remain without the best men and women, young people who they are the engine of the country,” he said. </s> GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Guatemalans on Sunday began voting for a new president, who will face the challenge of curbing drug gang violence that has convulsed the country and helped spur illegal immigration to the United States, fueling tensions with President Donald Trump.

Nineteen candidates are competing in the election, which is expected to yield no outright winner, forcing the top two contenders to face off in a second round on Aug. 11.

Former first lady Sandra Torres, of the center-left UNE party, has led the race to succeed President Jimmy Morales, a conservative former television host whose term has been blighted by accusations of corruption made by U.N.-backed investigators.

Torres, who wants to send troops onto the streets to fight drug gangs, and to tackle poverty with welfare programs, has support of around 20 percent of the electorate, polls show.

“We have to sort out our problems here, and part of the reason for the migration is the lack of jobs, the gap in wages between the United States and here,” Torres said as she arrived to cast her vote in Guatemala City. “We need to work with the business community to revive the economy and create jobs.”

Her closest rivals, trailing by a few percentage points, are conservatives Alejandro Giammattei, who is running in his fourth campaign, and Edmond Mulet, a former United Nations official whose candidacy has gained traction in the run-up to the vote.

Mulet, who arrived to vote driving a white car with his wife and son, stressed that he had run an austere campaign, and said he was hopeful of making the second round run-off.

Rampant violence and widespread discontent over corruption and impunity in the country of 17 million have prompted more and more Guatemalans to flee for the United States.

The surge of departures has undermined Trump’s pledge to curb illegal immigration, and the U.S. president has responded by threatening to cut U.S. aid to Central America.

That prospect has caused alarm in Guatemala, where the legacy of the bloody 1960-1996 civil war continues to cast a long shadow over the country’s development.

Polling stations close at 6 p.m. (0000 GMT) and results are due to begin to coming in from around 7 p.m. (0100 GMT).

To avoid a run-off, one of the candidates needs to win more than 50 percent of the vote, a result pollsters deem highly unlikely. Securing victory will likely depend on candidates’ ability to build a coalition for the second round.

In research report on Friday, Eurasia Group said Torres would struggle to win a run-off, given her high rejection rate and the ability of her likely opponent to unify the conservative vote and secure support from the country’s powerful elites.

Morales, who is barred by law from seeking re-election, took office in 2016 vowing to root out corruption after his predecessor was brought down by a probe led by the U.N.-backed International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG).

Instead, Morales himself became a target of a CICIG probe into allegations of campaign finance wrongdoing and was subject to impeachment proceedings in 2017.

He survived the attempt to oust him, and then engaged in a bitter dispute with the CICIG before finally terminating its mandate, effective from September.

“Guatemala needs a transparent government, more security,” said Dalila Lorenzana, a 46-year-old homemaker, after voting. “And for the CICIG to stay in Guatemala and a stronger economy.”

Questions of legitimacy have dogged the 2019 contest since two of the front-runners were forced out, including Thelma Aldana, a former attorney general who tried to impeach Morales with the CICIG. The government accused Aldana of corruption, leading to her exclusion last month.

Allegations of shady dealings have permeated the election, which has been fought out amid intensifying efforts by Trump to turn Mexico and Guatemala into buffer zones to keep undocumented migrants out of the United States.

Presidential hopeful Mario Estrada and congressional candidate Julio Jose Rosales were arrested during the campaign and charged with having links to Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel. </s> GUATEMALA CITY: Corruption-weary Guatemalans went to the polls Sunday to elect a new president after a tumultuous campaign that saw two leading candidates barred from taking part and the top electoral crimes prosecutor forced to flee the country, fearing for his life.

Besides the president, voters will elect members of Congress and municipal offices. Gang violence, poverty and streams of US-bound migrants have dominated campaigning in Central America´s most populous country, where a crowded field of 19 candidates is vying to succeed outgoing president Jimmy Morales.

The country´s top anti-corruption campaigner, former attorney general Thelma Aldana, is not among them. She was expected to poll strongly, but was barred from running last month over allegations of irregularities dating from when she was a barnstorming public prosecutor. Sandra Torres, a 63-year-old businesswoman and former first lady, heads into the election as the favorite, having built a clear opinion-poll lead over second placed Alejandro Giammattei, also 63.

Torres — candidate for the center-left Unity of Hope party (UNE) — has over 22 percent of voter preferences in the latest polls, while Giammattei, a doctor running for the conservative Vamos party, trails with just over 11 percent.

However, neither is seen as likely to poll strongly enough Sunday to avoid a runoff round on August 11.Analysts believe Torres, a polarizing figure since her years as the Central American country´s first lady, would struggle in a second round, given Giammattei´s ability to unify the conservative vote against her.

Three other candidates are vying for third place, with indigenous woman Thelma Cabrera building momentum in the closing stages of the campaign. Guatemala´s electorate of eight million is also voting in congressional and municipal elections on Sunday.

Torres´s UNE is expected to poll strongly but fall short of a majority in the deeply fractured 160-seat congress. The ex-wife of former president Alvaro Colom, in power from 2008-2012, Torres has pledged health and education reforms as well as jobs to stem the flow of migration to the US.

She has vowed to oppose abortion and same-sex marriage. Giammattei has vowed to bring back the death penalty to help crush violent gangs, fight poverty to stop migration and end “disgusting” corruption.

Monitors from the Organization of American States (OAS), led by former Costa Rican president Luis Guillermo Solis, are supervising the polls. All police leave has been canceled and around 40,000 police have been put on alert, while the military has been mobilized to guard key buildings and jails. Authorities have expressed concern about possible outbreaks of violence in at least 55 municipalities.

Guatemala has one of the world´s highest homicide rates: official statistics put the rate at 22.4 murders per 100,000 people at the end of 2018. Around half the killings are blamed on drug trafficking and extortion operations carried out by powerful gangs. Morales, a former TV comedian who won power in 2015 — beating Torres in the run-off — is obliged to step down under Guatemala´s one-term rules. </s> GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Guatemalans on Sunday voted for a new president, who will face the daunting challenge of curbing drug gang violence that has ravaged the country and helped spur illegal immigration to the United States, stoking tensions with President Donald Trump.

Polling stations closed at 6 p.m. (0000 GMT). None of the 19 candidates is expected to win an outright majority, meaning the top two finishers will likely face off in a second round on Aug. 11.

Former first lady Sandra Torres, of the center-left UNE party, has led the race to succeed President Jimmy Morales, a conservative former television host whose term has been blighted by accusations of corruption made by U.N.-backed investigators.

Torres, who wants to send troops into the streets to fight drug gangs, and use welfare programs to tackle poverty, has the support of about 20 percent of the electorate, opinion polls showed.

"We have to sort out our problems here, and part of the reason for the migration is the lack of jobs, the gap in wages between the United States and here," Torres said as she voted in Guatemala City. "We need to work with the business community to revive the economy and create jobs."

Her closest rivals, trailing by a few percentage points, are conservatives Alejandro Giammattei, who is running in his fourth campaign, and Edmond Mulet, a former U.N. official whose candidacy has gained traction in recent weeks.

Arriving to vote while driving a white car carrying his wife and son, Mulet said he had run an austere campaign and was hopeful of making the runoff.

Rampant violence and widespread discontent over corruption and impunity in the country of 17 million have prompted more and more Guatemalans to flee for the United States.

The surge of departures has undermined Trump's pledge to curb illegal immigration, and the U.S. president has responded by threatening to cut U.S. aid to Central America.

That prospect has caused alarm in Guatemala, where the legacy of the bloody 1960-1996 civil war still casts a long shadow over the country's development.

Preliminary results are due to begin coming in around 7 p.m. (0100 GMT).

With polls showing it is highly unlikely any candidate will win more than 50% of the vote, victory will likely depend on candidates' ability to build a coalition for the second round.

Consultancy Eurasia Group said on Friday that Torres would struggle to win a runoff, given her high negative ratings and the ability of her likely opponent to unify conservative voters and secure support from the country's powerful elites.

Morales, who is barred by law from seeking re-election, took office in 2016 vowing to root out corruption after his predecessor was brought down by a probe led by the U.N.-backed International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG).

Instead, Morales himself became a target of a CICIG probe into allegations of campaign finance wrongdoing and was subject to impeachment proceedings in 2017.

He survived the attempt to oust him, and then engaged in a bitter dispute with the CICIG before finally terminating its mandate, effective from September.

None of the top contenders has unequivocally backed the CICIG, with Torres saying she would consider holding a referendum on whether it should remain in Guatemala.

Fernando Escalante, 41, an industrial design adviser, said the next president must continue the fight against corruption.

"I fear all the progress we've made could be lost, but maybe it's time for us Guatemalans to take on the task," he said.

Questions of legitimacy have dogged the 2019 contest since two of the front-runners were forced out, including Thelma Aldana, a former attorney general who tried to impeach Morales with the CICIG. The government accused Aldana of corruption, leading to her exclusion last month.

Allegations of shady dealings have permeated the election, which has been fought out amid intensifying efforts by Trump to turn Mexico and Guatemala into buffer zones to keep migrants from entering the United States illegally.

Presidential hopeful Mario Estrada and congressional candidate Julio Jose Rosales were arrested during the campaign and charged with having links to Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel. </s> Corruption-weary Guatemalans went to the polls Sunday to elect a new president after a tumultuous campaign that saw two leading candidates barred from taking part and the top electoral crimes prosecutor forced to flee the country, fearing for his life.

Besides the president, voters will elect members of Congress and municipal offices.

Gang violence, poverty and streams of US-bound migrants have dominated campaigning in Central America's most populous country, where a crowded field of 19 candidates is vying to succeed outgoing president Jimmy Morales.

The country's top anti-corruption campaigner, former attorney general Thelma Aldana, is not among them. She was expected to poll strongly, but was barred from running last month over allegations of irregularities dating from when she was a barnstorming public prosecutor.

Sandra Torres, a 63-year-old businesswoman and former first lady, heads into the election as the favorite, having built a clear opinion-poll lead over second placed Alejandro Giammattei, also 63.

Torres -- candidate for the center-left Unity of Hope party (UNE) -- has over 22 percent of voter preferences in the latest polls, while Giammattei, a doctor running for the conservative Vamos party, trails with just over 11 percent.

However, neither is seen as likely to poll strongly enough Sunday to avoid a runoff round on August 11.

Analysts believe Torres, a polarizing figure since her years as the Central American country's first lady, would struggle in a second round, given Giammattei's ability to unify the conservative vote against her.

Three other candidates are vying for third place, with indigenous woman Thelma Cabrera building momentum in the closing stages of the campaign.

Guatemala's electorate of eight million is also voting in congressional and municipal elections on Sunday. Torres's UNE is expected to poll strongly but fall short of a majority in the deeply fractured 160-seat congress.

The ex-wife of former president Alvaro Colom, in power from 2008-2012, Torres has pledged health and education reforms as well as jobs to stem the flow of migration to the US. She has vowed to oppose abortion and same-sex marriage.

Giammattei has vowed to bring back the death penalty to help crush violent gangs, fight poverty to stop migration and end "disgusting" corruption.

Monitors from the Organization of American States (OAS), led by former Costa Rican president Luis Guillermo Solis, are supervising the polls.

All police leave has been canceled and around 40,000 police have been put on alert, while the military has been mobilized to guard key buildings and jails.

Authorities have expressed concern about possible outbreaks of violence in at least 55 municipalities.

Guatemala has one of the world's highest homicide rates: official statistics put the rate at 22.4 murders per 100,000 people at the end of 2018.

Around half the killings are blamed on drug trafficking and extortion operations carried out by powerful gangs.

Morales, a former TV comedian who won power in 2015 -- beating Torres in the run-off -- is obliged to step down under Guatemala's one-term rules.

His predecessor Otto Perez is in jail for corruption and he himself faces a corruption inquiry into illegal campaign funding.

That was instigated by Aldana and the UN-backed International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) that has put former presidents, ministers and business moguls in jail.

Aldana -- who fled to the United States after receiving death threats -- told AFP her exclusion was orchestrated by those she put in prison and their allies, who saw her as a "hindrance."

Also barred from running was Zury Rios, daughter of late dictator Efrain Rios Montt, under constitutional rules that prevent his relatives from seeking the presidency.

And this week, as polling stations were being prepared across the country, Oscar Schaad, the electoral court's top prosecutor, said he had been forced to flee the country, citing threats to him and his family.

Some polls place Roberto Arzu, son of the late former president Alvaro Arzu (1996-2000), in third place.

Tough-talking Arzu warned criminal gangs he would leave no stone unturned in a quest to hunt them down if he is elected. Then he would give them a choice, he said: "surrender or die on the spot." </s> Guatemalans are geared up to elect the successor of Jimmy Morales in Sunday’s election.

Guatemalans headed to the polls Sunday to vote for a new president and elect the successor of President Jimmy Morales. Nearly eight million Guatemalans are voting this election.

A total of 19 candidates will compete in the election, which is expected to yield no outright winner, forcing the top two vote-getters to face off in a second round on Aug. 11.

The voting centers opened at 7:00 am local time and are expected to close at 6:00 pm local time. The winner will take office on Jan 14.

Among those leading the polls is Sandra Torres — wife of ex-President Alvaro Colom, a representative of the social democratic party, National Union of Hope (UNE).

Following her is a great number of contenders led by Alejandro Giammattei of the newly established Vamos party, the former director of the jail system. Next is Roberto Arzu of the right-wing Pan-Podemos and finally Edmundo Mulet of the Guatemalan Humanist Party.

However, the Times News reports widespread discontent, with voters saying they don't trust any of the candidates, especially in light of a campaign plagued with scandals in which three candidates were disqualified for ethics violations.

There are big challenges for the next president of the country who will be expected to provide solutions to voters' urgent concerns, which include a slowing economy, growing poverty, wild corruption and high levels of crime.

Corruption has always characterized the country’s political life. In an effort to address the problem, the government of Oscar Berger (2004-2008) invited the United Nations to create the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) to inquire into corruption and crime in the country.

The progress made by the CICIG came to an end during Jimmy Morales presidency and his broken promises have produced immense dissatisfaction among Guatemala’s population.

In August, President Morales said he would end the commission’s mandatewhen it expires in September 2019. At that time he also prohibited its director, Ivan Velasquez, from reentering Guatemala from his home country of Colombia and ordered the government to withhold the passports of over 30 of its employees.

This all unfolded just days after the commission was getting closer and closer to investigating the president and his National Party (NP), for illicit campaign financing during Morales’ 2016 run for head of state, among other charges. </s> A woman jogs past political campaign posters at Reforma avenue in Guatemala City, early Saturday, June 15, 2019. The road to Sunday’s presidential election in Guatemala has been a chaotic flurry of court rulings and shenanigans, illegal party-switching and allegations of malfeasance that torpedoed the candidacies of two of the top three candidates. (AP Photo/Oliver de Ros)

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemalans head to the polls Sunday to choose their next president, as well as a vice president, congressional representatives and mayors. With 19 candidates in the race for president, a runoff vote is likely in August.

Unemployment, violence, corruption, rising costs of living and the shoddy state of the country’s highways are among top concerns for the country’s electorate. Surging migration has not emerged as a major campaign issue, even as an estimated 1 percent of Guatemala’s population of some 16 million people has left the country this year.

Here are the top-five candidates for president based on recent polls:

Polls favor former first lady Sandra Torres of the National Unity and Hope party to finish first, but it is unlikely she will get enough votes to avoid a runoff. Torres, 64, is a businesswoman who gained national prominence during the 2008-2012 government of her then-husband, Álvaro Colom, when she served as coordinator of the Council on Social Cohesion, an entity dedicated to helping the marginalized and the poor. The couple divorced in 2011. This is the third time Torres has tried to run for president. Prosecutors opened an investigation into alleged illicit campaign financing involving her party. The case has not moved forward because candidates are protected from prosecution.

This four-time presidential candidate and former prison director is best-known for having put down a prison uprising in which several hostages were killed.

A businessman and son of a former president, Arzú is polling close to Giammattei for second place. Arzú, who was once president of a soccer club, represents a coalition of conservative parties.

A lawyer, journalist and diplomat who was accused of running an international child adoption ring in the early 1980s that spirited orphans and other children who may have been abandoned out of Guatemala. Mulet, 68, later became the highest ranking Guatemalan in the United Nations.

The only indigenous candidate in the race and the top contender from a left-leaning party. Cabrera, 43, is a human and land rights defender from the indigenous Mam community. </s> GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Guatemala’s presidential election was headed for a runoff as results on Monday gave center-left candidate Sandra Torres a clear lead but far short of the outright majority needed to avoid a second round against a conservative rival.

With votes tallied from 94% of polling stations, preliminary results from Sunday’s election gave former first lady Torres 25.27% of the vote, followed by conservative Alejandro Giammattei with 14.08%, the electoral tribunal’s website said.

Early on Monday, Torres said she would work to forge alliances to win the second round runoff, which is due to be held on Aug. 11.

“The country needs unity: To unite the countryside with the city, to unite the workers with the business community, and also in civil society, in all sectors,” she told reporters.

The head of the electoral tribunal said late on Sunday it could take approximately two weeks to have definitive results from across the Central American country.

Guatemala’s next president faces the difficult task of curbing drug gang violence that has ravaged the country and helped spur illegal immigration to the United States, souring relations with President Donald Trump.

Torres, of the center-left UNE party, has for weeks led the race to succeed President Jimmy Morales, a conservative former television host whose term has been blighted by accusations of corruption made by U.N.-backed investigators.

Nevertheless, Torres also has high negative ratings and may struggle to win a direct runoff if supporters of the many right-of-center candidates unite against her.

Nineteen candidates took part in the vote. In third place with 11.32% was Edmond Mulet, a former U.N. official whose conservative candidacy gained traction in recent weeks.

Torres, who wants to send troops into the streets to fight drug gangs, and use welfare programs to tackle poverty, extended a hand to Guatemala’s business elite when voting on Sunday.

Rampant violence and widespread discontent over corruption and impunity in the country of 17 million have prompted more and more Guatemalans to flee for the United States.

The surge of departures has undermined Trump’s pledge to curb illegal immigration, and the U.S. president has responded by threatening to cut U.S. aid to Central America.

That prospect has caused alarm in Guatemala, where the legacy of the bloody 1960-1996 civil war still casts a long shadow over the country’s development.

Rain fell on Guatemala City during Sunday’s vote and results suggested there was considerable discontent among the electorate about the choice of candidates on offer. More than 13% of votes cast were blank or spoiled ballots, the count showed.

President Morales, who is barred by law from seeking re-election, took office in 2016 vowing to end corruption after his predecessor was brought down by a probe led by the U.N.-backed International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG).

Instead, Morales himself became a target of a CICIG probe into allegations of campaign finance wrongdoing and was subject to impeachment proceedings in 2017.

He survived the attempt to oust him, and then engaged in a bitter dispute with the CICIG before finally terminating its mandate, effective from September.

None of the top contenders has unequivocally backed the CICIG, with Torres saying she would consider holding a referendum on whether it should remain in Guatemala.

Questions of legitimacy have dogged the 2019 contest since two of the front-runners were forced out, including Thelma Aldana, a former attorney general who tried to impeach Morales with the CICIG. The government accused Aldana of corruption, leading to her exclusion last month. </s> Orlando Estrada, AFP | Guatemalan candidate for the Vamos (Let's Go) party Alejandro Giammattei shows his inked finger after voting at a polling station in Guatemala City on August 11, 2019.

Conservative Alejandro Giammattei appeared poised for a decisive victory in Guatemala's presidential election on Sunday, storming into a commanding lead over his centre-left rival, former first lady Sandra Torres, preliminary results showed.

With returns from three-fifths of the polling stations counted, Giammattei had secured more than 58% of the vote, while Torres had won just over 41%, according to the tally posted on the website of the country's electoral tribunal.

The next president is likely to face a major challenge on taking office in January after the country signed an unpopular deal with Washington to act as a buffer against illegal immigration under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump.

Threatened with economic sanctions if it said no, the administration of outgoing President Jimmy Morales reached an accord in late July to make Guatemala a so-called safe third country for migrants, despite the endemic poverty and violence plaguing the Central American nation.

Both Giammattei and Torres have criticized the deal. But it is unclear that either will be able to do much to stop it.
Citizens of Guatemala head to the polls to vote for their next president and new members of the country's congress.