GUATEMALA CITY – A right-wing retired general promising a crackdown on rampant crime is leading Guatemala’s presidential election, although he has fallen short of the votes needed to avoid a run-off in November.
Otto Perez (60), who promises to send troops on to the streets to fight criminal gangs, won 36 per cent support with almost all the votes counted, far short of the more than 50 per cent needed for an outright first-round victory.
Centrist Manuel Baldizon (41), a wealthy hotel owner and former congressman with a populist message of supporting the elderly and the poor, had 24 per cent and seemed certain to face Mr Perez in a November 6th run-off.
Mr Baldizon, who defected from the ruling centre-left UNE party, only surged in the polls after President Alvaro Colom’s wife, first lady Sandra Torres, was blocked from participating. Trying to skirt a rule banning the president’s close relatives from seeking office, she tearily divorced Mr Colom earlier this year, but a series of courts ruled against her bid.
Mr Perez’s vote share was less than earlier polls had indicated, but his showing suggests he is well-placed to win in the second round.
Fellow right-wing candidate Eduardo Suger (72), an academic, was in third place with about 16 per cent support; many of his supporters could turn to Mr Perez in a second round, when the candidate with the most votes wins.
“We are confident that in the next round, the second round on November 6th, we will win again and win by a strong margin,” Mr Perez said early yesterday as the tally was still slowly trickling in.
If he does win, he would be the first former army officer to take power since Guatemala returned to democracy in 1986 after decades of military rule.
Mr Perez’s main campaign promise was a mano dura – or “firm hand” – against violent street gangs and Mexican drug cartels that have moved into Guatemala, using it as a key route in smuggling South American cocaine to the United States.
Human rights groups warn that his tough crime-fighting message may have a dark side in a country with a history of extra-judicial killings by security forces.
Still, with about a dozen murders a day in a country of 14.7 million people, many voters say they have had enough.
“See a thief, kill a thief, forget locking them up,” said Perez supporter Hilda Lopez. – (Reuters)