After a long process that began in June — when Guatemala held the first round of its presidential elections — Bernardo Arévalo became the most voted candidate this Sunday (20) and will become the next president on January 14, 2024.
It was a defiant campaign, including questioning by the losing Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza (UNE) party over the election results, and one that now appears to be coming to an end.
But who were the election day winners and losers?
Big winner of the night
Reference of the recent Movimiento Semilla, Arévalo is the big winner of the electoral contest, having overcome Sandra Torres, from the UNE party, leaving him to replace the current president Alejandro Giammattei.
With an agenda focused on combating corruption and a past as a legislator and diplomat, the 64-year-old doctor in philosophy and sociology born in Uruguay (during his parents’ exile) was not the favorite at the beginning of the process and had managed only 11, 8% of the votes in the first round, taking second place.
Regarding Arévalo’s victory, sociologist and analyst Vaclav Masek Sánchez told CNN that “it is a combination of factors that have been mixed in recent years.” “Primarily, the population’s general weariness with the traditional political class that was in control of the state during the transition to democracy in 1985,” he added.
“The surprise victory of Bernardo Arévalo shocked the status quo and through electoral and criminal processes, opponents tried to block the process,” said Edgar Gutiérrez, political analyst and former foreign minister of Guatemala during the government of Alfonso Portillo, to the Mirador CNN World program.
During the campaign, Arévalo said that to generate development for the vast majority of Guatemala, “the most important thing” is to address areas such as health, education, infrastructure, among others.
However, he considers that “the most urgent thing” is to end corruption, because otherwise, institutions will not do a good job.
The losers of the day
Torres, who had already been beaten in the second round by Jimmy Morales in 2015 and by Giammattei in 2019, was again the big loser of the day, despite being the most voted in the first round with 16% of the votes.
The ex-wife of former President Álvaro Colom, Torres has made security a focus of her campaign and said her plan “looks a lot like” what President Nayib Bukele did in El Salvador, who managed to reduce homicides by implementing an emergency regime and territorial control plan, which has also received criticism from local and international organizations who consider that the measure violates human rights.
Neither of the two candidates in the second round was linked to President Giammattei, the other loser of the night: re-election is not possible in Guatemala, but the president was also unable to choose a successor for his political project.
Giammattei’s party was represented in these elections by Manuel Conde, who reached third place in the first round with 7.8% of the votes and was left out of the second round that took place between Arévalo and Torres.
After all, it was a defiant campaign: after the June 25 elections, at least nine parties — among them Torres and Giammatte — appealed to the Constitutional Court for alleged irregularities in the counting of votes.
And on July 12, the Seventh Criminal Instance Court ordered the suspension of charges against the political party Movimiento Semilla e de Arévalo for allegedly falsifying citizens’ signatures for the party’s qualification process before the Superior Electoral Court.
The Movimiento Semilla rejected this accusation and, after several days of uncertainty, the Supreme Court of Justice endorsed that the Superior Electoral Court officialize the results of the general vote, including that of president and vice president.
In the second round, the UNE, Torres’ party, also questioned the results for alleged irregularities.
With information from Merlin Delcid and Florencia Trucco
Source: CNN Brasil

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