Giammattei wins Guatemala's presidential runoff: preliminary results

Conservative candidate Alejandro Giammattei won Guatemala's presidential runoff on Sunday with a decisive lead over his rival, according to preliminary results from the Supreme Electoral Court (STE).

Alejandro Giammattei, presidential candidate with the Vamos party, shows his ink stained finger, which means he voted in the presidential election, as he arrives to his campaign headquarters to await results, at a hotel in Guatemala City, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2019. [Photo: AP/Oliver de Ros]

With 84 percent of the votes counted, Giammattei, of the Vamos (Let's Go for a Different Guatemala) party, garnered 59 percent of the ballots, or 1,650,976 votes.

Former first lady Sandra Torres, the candidate of the National Unity of Hope (UNE) party, trailed with 40 percent of the ballots, or 1,120,909 votes.

"Starting Jan. 14, we can't waste a single day. I want to tell you that tonight before going to sleep, we should ask God for his blessings and wisdom because we are going to have some tough times," Giammattei said in a victory speech shortly after the vote count showed he had a commanding lead.

The winner of the runoff vote will take office on Jan. 14.

Torres has won the first round on June 16 with 25 percent of the votes versus 14 percent for Giammattei, out of a crowded field of 19 presidential hopefuls.

However, going into the runoff, Giammattei, former director of the Guatemalan Penitentiary System, had a slight advantage as right-of-center voters consolidated behind him.

Giammattei will succeed Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales, who is barred by law from running for a second term, to serve a four-year term.

During his campaign, Giammattei pledged to get tough on crime, including by reinstating the death penalty.

This was Giammattei's fourth run for the presidency and Torres' second.

Nearly 3,000 voting stations were set up around the country for Guatemala's over 8.1 million registered voters.

Voting stations were also set up in U.S. cities with high concentrations of Guatemalan immigrants, such as Los Angeles, Houston, New York and Maryland.