Guatemala Closes Polls in Runoff Presidential Elections

Guatemala closed at 18:00 local time this Sunday, the reception of votes in the 3,468 polling stations enabled for the presidential election in the second round.

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The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) reported a day without major incidents in which around 9.3 million people were called to vote. 

TSE magistrate, Gabriel Aguilera, referred to the election day in Guatemala as a "democratic civic party," pointing out that "proof of this is that at a national level we have not had any focus of conflict," said Aguilera before the polls closed.

However, there have been reports of threats sent by cell phone to high authorities, among them Aguilera and TSE magistrate Blanca Alfaro. The Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei told local media, without revealing further details, that "the place where the phone was purchased has been located."

"We understand that Mrs. Alfaro is going to present her resignation and the Congress will have to decide whether to accept it or not," the president added. In the case of Aguilera Giammattei, he ruled out that the magistrate will abandon her function in the TSE.

The tweet reads, "Presidential Elections in Guatemala: With 75 percent of the votes processed, the Social Democrat candidate Bernardo Arévalo wins with nearly 59% of the votes over Sandra Torres."

For her part, the Attorney General of the Republic and head of the Public Ministry, María Consuelo Porras Argueta confirmed having received the complaint and notified that they have already requested the public forces to "immediately provide due protection" to the magistrates of the TSE. 

According to the preliminary electoral results system, articulated by the TSE, the presidential candidate of the Seed Movement, Bernardo Arévalo is ahead with more than ten percentages against the candidate of the National Unity of Hope (UNE), Sandra Torres. 

In the first round of elections, last June, Torres won with 15% of the votes against 11% for Arevalo, while null votes were 17%. On this occasion, the TSE reported a 32% citizen participation, in a level of abstentionism higher than 50% of the Guatemalans registered to vote.