Yell Fire

Guatemala City – Amid a corruption scandal that has led to President Otto Perez Molina resignation, Guatemalans head to the polls on September 6th to elect a new president.

Polls have become unpredictable, as the corruption scandal of La Linea unravels, bringing down politicians and parties with it. The governing Patriot Party’s candidate Alejandro Sinibaldi, Perez Molina’s right hand, has withdrawn his candidacy.

With just days before the vote, no winner is clear. If none of the candidates obtain more than 50 percent of the votes, the two top candidates will face off in a second round set for Oct. 25.

Review the profiles of the main candidates in the race for the Guatemalan presidency:

Manuel Baldizon

Liberal Renewed Democracy (LIDER)

The LIDER candidate, millionaire Manuel Baldizon, ran against Otto Perez Molina in the 2011 presidential elections, losing against him in run-off.

Baldizon began his campaign with the slogan “It’s His Turn,” which was soon banned by the Electoral Tribunal. The slogan made reference to the third time that the candidate is running for president. It was widely criticized and elicited controversy due to its un-democratic nature.

Now, Baldizon is promising change as his main campaign slogan. However, his vice presidential candidate Edgar Barquin and another 7 lawmakers from his party have been charged by the U.N. Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) with money laundering and corruption.

Furthermore, 22 of his party’s lawmakers did not attend the congressional session which decided whether to lift Perez Molina’s immunity. LIDER lawmakers had allied with the Patriotic Party in Parliament to delay investigations on the president’s corruption charges.

According to a United States intelligence psychological profile of Baldizon, the candidate has a messianic belief in himself, an authoritarian style and is capable of unscrupulous actions. Leaked audios from a meeting with Baldizon seem to confirm this; the candidate called upon his party members to invest every penny in his victory and threatened his party’s candidates that he will judge them based on the votes they obtain.

The audio has elicited anger as he refers contemptuously to the demonstrations against corruption, which have gathered hundreds of thousands of Guatemalans in the street.

The latest surveys show that Baldizon could win the first round of elections with between 24-29.2%, but a second round would be won by Jimmy Morales with 48% and Baldizon would lead behind with 33% , according to a recent poll by Felipe Noguera company.

Baldizon is by far the wealthiest of the candidates, with several private helicopters and a permanent presence in publicity and across the media. The Electoral Tribunal has prohibited him from buying any more publicity, since he has gone far over the legal limit. However, the millionaire is ignoring the legal prohibition and continues to dominate in electoral propaganda.

Jimmy Morales

National Convergence Front (FCN)

A political outsider, actor and comedian Jimmy Morales has become the surprise of the presidential race. He began his political career running to head the local municipality of Mixco, coming in third.

Morales’ campaign has focused on the value of education and in denouncing the corruption of the country’s political elite.

He describes himself as a nationalist and claims he has faced a violent smear campaign against him. His opponents have launched a counter-campaign under the slogan “Guatemala Is Not A Joke” which takes on Morales’ career as a comedian to suggest he is incapable of governing the country.

Furthermore, Morales was sued last week by a woman who claims he sexually harrassed and abused her.

Among his proposals, Morales promises to boost small and medium-sized businesses and is characterized for using personal experiences as examples to back his proposals, a style that has drawn him closer to the people.

The candidate describes as role models the Uruguayan former President Jose Mujica, Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa, and the U.S. President Barack Obama.

Despite that his rhetoric is sometimes interpreted as left-leaning, Morales insists he is a nationalist and believes in open, free markets, as well as government regulations.

His campaign has been financed mainly by sympathizers. Morales has called upon his supporters to become his publicity on social media, with the hashtag #ImYourPublicity / YoSoyTuPublicidad.

Sandra Torres

National Unity Of Hope (UNE)

The wife of former president Alvaro Colom, Sandra Torres tried to run for president in the 2011 elections, however the Electoral Tribunal prohibited her candidacy due to her role as first lady.

Torres described Otto Perez Molina’s government as a return of an “oligarchy-military alliance.”

Her party, UNE, describes itself as social-democrat. However, her opponents have tried to link her to a more radical left, claiming she was the mistress of a guerrilla fighter during the 1980s.

She proposes a total reform of the Guatemalan state, including a tax reform to depend less on public debt.

During her husband’s presidency, the government increased spending on social programs, a feature she has promised to bring back. This has gained her widespread support in Guatemala’s rural cities.

Torres has committed to launch a national dialogue if she is elected president, as she believes the country is deeply divided and needs more unity to confront the current challenges.

Zury Rios

Vision With Values (VIVA)

Zury Rios Sosa is the daughter of Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt, who is being charged with killing over 1,700 indigenous people between 1982 and 1983.

Despite Guatemala’s Constitutional ban on the families of former dictators from participating in politics, Rios Sosa was able to get an exception from the Supreme Court of Justice. The arguments favoring the candidate were never made public.

The daughter of the dictator was three times a lawmaker in Guatemala’s Congress. As most of the other candidates, she promises change as the main focus of her campaign.

To lure voters, she has underscored laws passed during her time as congresswoman, which sought to protect and promote women and children’s rights.

Rios Sosa has consistently denied that her father committed genocide against the Guatemalan indigenous population and claims the trial against him is inspired by revenge.

As part of her campaign, she has released a series of controversial short videos, one in which she criticizes the involvement of foreign countries during her father’s trial.

Roberto Gonzales

Commitment, Renovation & Order (CREO)

A former minister during Oscar Berger’s presidency (2004-2008), Roberto Gonzales Diaz-Duran is currently charged with corruption and is being investigated by the Guatemalan Justice Department.

Despite being investigated himself, Gonzales took a bold step to show his anti-corruption credentials by expelling lawmaker Pedro Muadi – charged with corruption by CICIG – from his party.

Gonzales has appealed to Christians and religious fanatics, using the values of traditional family as part of his main campaign messages.

But Guatemalans do not forget that the head of CREO, former president and current Mayor of Guatemala City Alvaro Arzu, was involved in a corruption scandal for the privatization of the state-owned telephone company, Guatel.

CREO and Roberto Gonzales propose a more open free market and less regulations, in a country where the diminishing power of the state has facilitated massive frauds.

His family – the Diaz-Duran – have provided a textbook study of how the Guatemalan oligarchy works.