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Ex-comedian wins presidential election in Guatemala

Monday, 26 October 2015 6:02 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 26 October 2015 6:05 AM ]

Guatemala’s President-elect Jimmy Morales, of the National Front Convergence, delivers a speech next to his wife Hilda Marroquin, after winning the run-off election, in Guatemala City, October 25, 2015. (Photo by AFP)

A former comedian with no experience in public office has been elected Guatemala’s president, against the backdrop of the resignation of the country’s former president on charges of corruption.

Official results from 96 percent of the country’s polling stations showed that Jimmy Morales received 69 percent of the votes in the Sunday election.

“It is not I who declare myself the winner but rather the people who have done so,” he said after the election.

Morales, 46, added that one of his main priorities was to “fight against the corruption that is consuming us.”

According to election officials, preliminary voter turnout was just above 50 percent.

Morales and his National Convergence Front (FCN) defeated his rival, former first lady Sandra Torres, whose husband Alvaro Colom had served as president from 2003 to 2011.

Exit Molina, enter Morales

Morales and Torres headed into a runoff after neither of them obtained an absolute majority in the first round of the voting on September 6.

Former President Otto Perez Molina stepped down in August. He was then imprisoned for corruption.

Former Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina

Guatemalans first launched demonstrations against Molina in April after prosecutors unveiled a corruption scandal involving the country’s customs authority.

Morales has vowed to keep Guatemalan Attorney General Thelma Aldana in place in order to continue the investigations into the scandal. He has also promised to increase transparency by using “all elements for auditing available to the presidency and vice presidency” aimed at fighting corruption.

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