Guatemala: Dark horse Bernardo Arevalo tastes victory in presidential election

Bernardo Arevalo, the surprise candidate, has swept the Guatemalan presidential elections. His anti-corruption message fired up weary voters handing him a victory on Sunday (August 20).

He secured 59 per cent of the vote by the time 95 per cent of ballots were counted, official results from the TSE national election body revealed.

Former first lady Sandra Torres who was Arevalo's opponent came in second. She secured 36 per cent of the vote according to the counting as of Sunday night.

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Arevalo has defied opinion polls and managed to pull off a massive upset. He was in second position in the first-round election in June.

Ahead of Sunday's vote, observers and foreign allies had sounded the alarm about meddling and efforts to undermine the electoral process, after a top prosecutor tried to have Arevalo disqualified and ordered raids on his party offices and the election body during the campaign.

The first round of votes was marked by low voter turnout and also by invalid votes. But at the close of Sunday's voting, the TSE reported "a historic turnout percentage". It did not immediately give more details.

Exasperated voters had expressed their despair over poverty, violence and corruption in the Central American nation. This has forced thousands of citizens to emigrate to countries like the US.

"You can no longer live anywhere because there is so much crime," complained 66-year-old housewife Maria Rac, an Indigenous Mayan who voted in the town of San Juan Sacatepequez, 30 kilometres (20 miles) west of the capital. She was quoted by AFP.

Arevalo, the son of the country's first democratically elected president, Juan Jose Arevalo, has slammed the plague of corrupt politicians on the campaign trail.

"We have been the victims, the prey, of corrupt politicians for years," Arevalo, a 64-year-old sociologist and former diplomat, said. "To vote is to say clearly that it is the Guatemalan people who lead this country, not the corrupt."

(With inputs from agencies)

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