The first round of Guatemalan presidential elections were held yesterday - with Sandra Torres taking the largest percentage of the vote at 16%. In a surprise outcome, Bernardo Arevalo, tallied the second most votes.
Because no candidate reached the 50% threshold in the first round of voting, Torres and Arevalo will now face off in a second round of voting on August 20th.
Torres has to hope the third time's the charm - since she's advanced to the second round of voting twice before only to lose in the decisive second election.
But her biggest supporter may be here in Belize. That's her sister Narda Garcia who, like Torres, was born in Melchor. Garcia told us today: "I wish my sister well in the August run off. I am proud of her for her determination and persistence in fighting for her ideals. Her family in Guatemala and Belize and elsewhere are proud of her and supportive of her struggle for the presidency of Guatemala. And no, whatever happens I am not moving to Guatemala. I am Belizean and my struggles are here." End quote.
Torres now has to form alliances with the many other parties who have seats in the Guatemalan congress to try and make it over the hurdle in August. We'll be watching.
