Migration Takes Center Stage as Guatemala Elects President
Migration Takes Center Stage as Guatemala Elects New President
(Bloomberg) -- Voting is well under way in Guatemala’s presidential run-off election between a former first lady and an ex-director of prisons, both of whom have pledged to tackle the poverty and violence that has driven migrants to flee to the U.S.
Sandra Torres, divorced in 2011 from former President Alvaro Colom, has promised to deploy the army to tackle gangs and drug violence and expand social programs to alleviate poverty. Alejandro Giammattei, who oversaw the nation’s riot-prone jail system from 2002 to 2007, has vowed to introduce measures to curb crime, such as tougher penalties for illegal gun ownership. He’s targeting an annual economic growth rate of 6% with market-friendly policies.
Both candidates have criticized a safe-third-country agreement with the U.S. that could force the Central American nation to take in thousands of U.S.-bound migrants, mostly from El Salvador and Honduras. U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened tariffs on exports and taxes on remittances if Guatemala doesn’t follow through on the deal.
“We can’t handle those we have, much less foreigners,” Giammattei said of the agreement before casting his vote on Sunday.
Voting will end at 6 p.m. local time with results expected later Sunday night. The winner will need 50% plus one vote and will take office Jan. 14.
Two polls last week showed Giammattei with an edge over Torres, while one had Torres ahead. Some 8.1 million Guatemalans are eligible to vote. Election authority president Julio Solorzano said turnout has been “normal.” Two voting centers experienced delayed openings because of protests, he said.
Both candidates said they see space to increase public spending and widen the budget deficit of 1.8% of GDP last year, a recommendation made this year by the International Monetary Fund.
Sergio Recinos, president of Guatemala’s central bank, said in an interview Friday that both candidates would uphold the nation’s conservative macroeconomic policies. Guatemala’s debt level, at 24% of GDP, is among the world’s lowest.
To contact the reporter on this story: Michael McDonald in San Jose, Costa Rica at mmcdonald87@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Juan Pablo Spinetto at jspinetto@bloomberg.net, Linus Chua, Shikhar Balwani
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