Corruption-weary Guatemala holds a run-off election Sunday between surprise front-runner Jimmy Morales -- a comedian with no political experience -- and former first lady Sandra Torres.
- From comic to president? -
Jimmy Morales, a 46-year-old comedian and actor, rose to fame playing the role of a simpleton cowboy who almost ends up becoming president.
In what some have called a case of life imitating art, the political outsider won the September 6 first-round election with 24 percent of the vote -- after starting the campaign with just 0.5 percent support in April.
He now looks set to follow through on that surprise victory: The final opinion poll before Sunday's run-off election gave him 68 percent, against 32 percent for Torres.
Morales has ridden a wave of disgust among ordinary Guatemalans, who deserted the traditional political elite in outrage over a series of corruption scandals that ended in the resignation and jailing of president Otto Perez just days before the first round vote.
Running for conservative party FCN-Nacion, Morales has led a light-hearted campaign, cracking jokes at rallies but giving few concrete details on his policy plans.
"For 20 years, I've made you laugh. I promise that if I become president, I won't make you cry," he reassured voters.
In his 2007 film "A President in a Sombrero," Morales played a hayseed named Neto who nearly gets elected president by making a string of empty promises, but ends up dropping out of the race and returning to his hometown.
In one of the film's best-known scenes, Neto promises to build a bridge for residents of one downtrodden district. When informed there is no river there, he announces, "Then we will build them the rivers they need!"
In real life, the current race is his first foray into national politics, though he once ran unsuccessfully for mayor of his hometown.
Morales briefly studied management at university, but never finished his degree.
While he is uncontroversial, his party is not: It was founded in 2008 by former military officers accused of committing human rights violations during Guatemala's civil war (1960-1996), which killed some 200,000 people.
Morales, who hosts a comedy show on TV and also produces movies, is married with four children.
- Determined underdog -
Sandra Torres, the 60-year-old ex-wife of former president Alvaro Colom (2008-2011), divorced her husband to be eligible for the 2011 election, only to have her candidacy rejected by the Electoral Tribunal on grounds that she was still a close relation of the incumbent.
Her hopes are now pinned on her poor rural base to deliver an upset Sunday.
She won 20 percent in the first-round vote, which ended in a down-to-the-wire race for runner-up.
After 10 days of counting and recounting, election officials finally announced Torres had edged millionaire businessman Manuel Baldizon, the man who many saw as Guatemala's next president until the recent corruption scandals, which also tainted his conservative party.
Torres is running for the social democratic party, UNE.
Her critics accuse her of taking part in the guerrilla army that fought the Guatemalan government during the country's 36-year civil war -- a claim she has always denied.
As head of the government's social programs during her husband's administration, she was considered a powerful and uncompromising figure, but she has sought to present a softer side on the campaign trail.
An outspoken activist for women's and children's rights, she has no children of her own.
Corruption-weary Guatemala holds a run-off election Sunday between surprise front-runner Jimmy Morales — a comedian with no political experience — and former first lady Sandra Torres.
– From comic to president? –
Jimmy Morales, a 46-year-old comedian and actor, rose to fame playing the role of a simpleton cowboy who almost ends up becoming president.
In what some have called a case of life imitating art, the political outsider won the September 6 first-round election with 24 percent of the vote — after starting the campaign with just 0.5 percent support in April.
He now looks set to follow through on that surprise victory: The final opinion poll before Sunday’s run-off election gave him 68 percent, against 32 percent for Torres.
Morales has ridden a wave of disgust among ordinary Guatemalans, who deserted the traditional political elite in outrage over a series of corruption scandals that ended in the resignation and jailing of president Otto Perez just days before the first round vote.
Running for conservative party FCN-Nacion, Morales has led a light-hearted campaign, cracking jokes at rallies but giving few concrete details on his policy plans.
“For 20 years, I’ve made you laugh. I promise that if I become president, I won’t make you cry,” he reassured voters.
In his 2007 film “A President in a Sombrero,” Morales played a hayseed named Neto who nearly gets elected president by making a string of empty promises, but ends up dropping out of the race and returning to his hometown.
In one of the film’s best-known scenes, Neto promises to build a bridge for residents of one downtrodden district. When informed there is no river there, he announces, “Then we will build them the rivers they need!”
In real life, the current race is his first foray into national politics, though he once ran unsuccessfully for mayor of his hometown.
Morales briefly studied management at university, but never finished his degree.
While he is uncontroversial, his party is not: It was founded in 2008 by former military officers accused of committing human rights violations during Guatemala’s civil war (1960-1996), which killed some 200,000 people.
Morales, who hosts a comedy show on TV and also produces movies, is married with four children.
– Determined underdog –
Sandra Torres, the 60-year-old ex-wife of former president Alvaro Colom (2008-2011), divorced her husband to be eligible for the 2011 election, only to have her candidacy rejected by the Electoral Tribunal on grounds that she was still a close relation of the incumbent.
Her hopes are now pinned on her poor rural base to deliver an upset Sunday.
She won 20 percent in the first-round vote, which ended in a down-to-the-wire race for runner-up.
After 10 days of counting and recounting, election officials finally announced Torres had edged millionaire businessman Manuel Baldizon, the man who many saw as Guatemala’s next president until the recent corruption scandals, which also tainted his conservative party.
Torres is running for the social democratic party, UNE.
Her critics accuse her of taking part in the guerrilla army that fought the Guatemalan government during the country’s 36-year civil war — a claim she has always denied.
As head of the government’s social programs during her husband’s administration, she was considered a powerful and uncompromising figure, but she has sought to present a softer side on the campaign trail.
An outspoken activist for women’s and children’s rights, she has no children of her own.
