No Joke: Comedian leads in Prez election

Morales Takes Early Lead in Guatemala's Presidential Election
Michael D McDonald Bill Faries
September 7, 2015 — 10:02 AM IST

Jimmy Morales, Guatemalan presidential candidate.

Comedian Jimmy Morales took an initial lead in Guatemala’s presidential elections on Sunday, with no candidate near the 50 percent threshold required to avoid an October runoff.

With ballots from about 58 percent of precincts counted, Morales, who railed against “traditional politicians” in a year that saw the country’s president, vice president and central bank chief jailed, had 26.5 percent support. Ex-lawmaker Manuel Baldizon of the Lider party won 18 percent while former First Lady Sandra Torres was third at 17 percent, according to data posted by the country’s electoral tribunal.

"I might not be the most capable person, but what Guatemala needs today is to get back to believing in itself." Morales said after taking the lead on Sunday. "We are going to fight corruption emphatically," he said.

After a bribery scandal forced President Otto Perez Molina to resign on Sept. 2, Vice President Alejandro Maldonado took over as the head of Central America’s biggest economy with the goal of finishing out a term scheduled to end in January.
Fulfilling Duty

“We hope the vote will bring an era of peace, tranquility and consolidation,” Maldonado, 79, said before polls closed. “The people are fulfilling their duty. The statesmen must also fulfill their duty.”

Sunday’s election featured 14 candidates vying for support from about 7.5 million eligible voters. Rudy Marlon Pineda, the head of the elections authority, said voters turned out in record numbers. If no one breaks the 50 percent threshold, a runoff between the two most-voted candidates will be held Oct. 25.

“We barely know who we are voting for and what the candidates propose,” said 24-year-old law student Isabel Blanco, while casting her ballot in Guatemala City. “The lack of information is the biggest problem.”
Bribery Allegations

As many as 70,000 people in the country of 14.6 million turned out at rallies this year demanding Perez Molina’s resignation. The former president, who remained in jail over the weekend, has rejected accusations by the attorney general that he accepted bribes from companies looking to avoid customs taxes. In a court appearance on Friday, he said he never “received a cent” in the alleged scandal.

In a country known abroad for its Mayan temples, textiles and rum, the corruption case came to dominate the election debate.

“For the first time corruption has surpassed security as the top concern among voters in Guatemala,” said Luis Haug, Central America’s regional director for Cid Gallup. “People are becoming very critical of the political issues in the country.”

The political crisis has had little impact on the $59 billion economy, which exports coffee, textiles and gold and also serves as a gateway between Latin America and the U.S. for migrants and drugs. Gross domestic product is expected to expand between 3.6 percent and 4.2 percent this year, interim central bank President Sergio Recinos said last month. The yield on the country’s dollar bonds maturing in 2022 fell five basis points, or 0.05 percentage point, last week to 4.98%.
‘Edge of Collapse’

“I would not be panicking and selling at these levels,” said Franco Uccelli, an emerging markets analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Miami. Guatemala’s “long-standing tradition of fiscal discipline characterized by relatively low fiscal deficits and a relatively low debt burden is not likely to be altered.”

Baldizon, 45, pledged to limit spending if elected and said he will continue plans to build a gas pipeline connecting Mexico and Guatemala. The 46-year-old Morales, who previously ran and lost a race for a mayoral post, said Sept. 1 that the country needs wholly new leadership.

“Guatemala, remember that these traditional politicians have taken us to the edge of collapse,” he said.

I guess a joker is much better than thieves to run a country

Bandu Samarasinghe for the next president in SL . What do you say?

slstock wrote:I guess a joker is  much better than thieves to run a country

Bandu Samarasinghe for the next president in SL . What do you say?

Good choice SLS but I like to see Tenison at the helm with the Modis Kit and Satake... (With his natural beard and Belly of course)

serene wrote:

slstock wrote:I guess a joker is  much better than thieves to run a country

Bandu Samarasinghe for the next president in SL . What do you say?

Good choice SLS but I like to see Tenison at the helm with the Modis Kit and Satake... (With his natural beard and Belly of course)

Serene, we can find a clever jokers & actors better than real one from "Diyawannawa". I do not want to mentioned those here....

Nuinth wrote:

serene wrote:

slstock wrote:I guess a joker is  much better than thieves to run a country

Bandu Samarasinghe for the next president in SL . What do you say?

Good choice SLS but I like to see Tenison at the helm with the Modis Kit and Satake... (With his natural beard and Belly of course)

Serene, we can find a clever jokers & actors better than real one from "Diyawannawa". I do not want to mentioned those here....

Yes Mate.