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Voting centers in Guatemala opened this Sunday to celebrate some general elections in the Central American country where the president and vice president will be defined for the period 2024-2028, in addition to other authorities.
The initial flag for the civic day took place at 7:00 local time (13:00 GMT), according to the regulations of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), and will last until 6:00 p.m. local time (00:00 GMT on Monday).
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There are 9.3 million people qualified by the TSE to cast their vote in the eleventh edition of the elections since the implantation of democracy in 1986.
The experts, however, do not rule out a high percentage of abstentionism from the vote by the registered population, due to apathy for the political class.
In the 2019 elections, abstentionism was 39% and four years earlier, in 2015, it amounted to 29%.
The main focus of attention is on the presidency, which according to surveys is contesting three traditional political candidates in the Central American country.
In total there are 3,482 voting centers installed throughout the territory, mostly in public schools, with 24,427 tables for the reception of the vote in the 22 departments (provinces) of the nation he presides over. Alejandro Giammattei.
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Five different colored ballot papers are given to each voter at the polling station so that they can secretly mark their vote for president and vice president; Municipal Hall; national deputies; deputies by region and legislators by Central American Parliament.
fight of three candidates
The signature survey ProDatawhich circulated in the local newspaper Free Press days before the elections, explained that the former first lady Sandra Torres (2008-2012) of the National Unity of Hope (UNE) will easily access a second round since it has 21.3% of the intention to vote.
Torres is competing for the presidency for the third consecutive time and in the previous two (2015 and 2019) he lost in the second round.
While the former United Nations diplomat edmond mullet (13.4%) and the conservative candidate Zury Rios Sosa (9.1%), daughter of the coup dictator Efrain Rios Monttare in second and third place for voting intentions, respectively, according to the same source.
Another 19 presidential candidates are also competing this Sunday. Notable among them is the opposition politician Manuel Villacorta of the party Will, Opportunity and Solidarity (VOS), the pro-government deputy Manuel Conde of the party of Govt Goand the social democrat Bernardo Arevaloson of the former president Juan Jose Arevalo Bermejo (1945-1951).
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Both local analysts and international organizations have insisted that the electoral process has been irregular for various reasons, but mainly due to the arbitrary exclusion of three candidates: the indigenous leader Thelma Cabrerathe son of the former president Alvaro Arzu Irigoyen (1996-2000), Roberto Arzú GarcÃa-Granadosand the businessman Carlos Pinedaleader of the polls.
In this context, a dozen international electoral observation missions have attended this Sunday to Guatemala to supervise the elections, including the delegations of the European Union (EU) and that of the Organization of American States (OAS).
Source: Elcomercio
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