Bernardo Arévalo, Virtual Winner of Guatemala Runoff Elections

The presidential candidate of the Seed Movement, Bernardo Arévalo, is the virtual winner in the second round of presidential elections this Sunday with more than 20 percentage points over his rival, Sandra Torres.

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The preliminary scrutiny of the presidential ballot in Guatemala shows an already irreversible advantage of the candidate Bernardo Arévalo, of the center-left Seed Movement.

With 96% of the ballots counted, Arevalo has 59.2% of the popular support, against 36.2% of his rival, Sandra Torres, of the conservative National Unity of Hope. 

Figures from local authorities show that Arevalo received 2.3 million votes, against 1.4 million for candidate Torres, with a total citizen participation of 44.92% and an abstention of 55%.

The tweet reads, "I congratulate Guatemalans for holding Elections Guatemala 2023 in peace, with few isolated incidents. I also congratulate Bernardo Arévalo de Leon and extend an invitation to him to begin the transition in an orderly manner, the day after the results are officially announced."

Thus, Arevalo would be the next Guatemalan president for the period 2024-2028. He would be the first progressive leftist president in the South American country. His victory will be confirmed in the next hours with the rest of the vote count.

Torres, on the other hand, would lose his third consecutive runoff, after losing to Jimmy Morales and Alejandro Giammattei, in 2015 and 2019, respectively.

Previously, the national electoral authorities reported an election day without major incidents. However, two homemade devices exploded in two polling centers in the outskirts of Guatemala City. No injuries or deaths were reported.