Guatemala: EX-MEMBER OF THE MILITARY AND A POPULIST COMPETE FOR THE PRESIDENCY OF GUATEMALA
The Guatemalan presidential elections took place on Sunday Sept. 11, with 65 percent of the seven million electorate participating. Multi-millionaire lawyer Manuel Baldizon, who is proposing a populist political program, won 23 percent of vote. Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu, heading a coalition of leftist parties, which included a former guerrilla group, only reached 3.18 percent of the vote. Retired general Perez Molina received 36 percent of the votes. Molina was an official in the military intelligence during the Guatemalan civil war, which lasted from 1960-1996 and caused the death and disappearance of 200 million Guatemalans. Because Molina and Baldizon were both well short of the simple majority needed to win election, the two will have to face off again. Analyst Luis Linares, believes that the final campaign between a conservative and an “extremely populist” politician can deeply polarize the country and force the next president, whomever it may be, to make campaign promises impossible to carry out. In any case, Guatemalans will have to return to the voting booths on Nov. 6 to elect the man that will govern the country from 2012 to 2016. 12.09.2011: GUATEMALA (elpais.com)