Guatemala election to go ahead

There is a choice of 14 candidates in Sunday's poll for a new president. But they are seen by many voters as tainted by the political system described by a United Nations commission as heavily financed by drug traffickers and other criminal networks in return for protection and favors.

Manuel Baldizon, a wealthy 44-year-old businessman and longtime politician, has a running mate who is accused by prosecutors of influence trafficking. As a candidate he enjoys immunity from prosecution.

Main challengers to Baldizon include TV comic Jimmy Morales and Sandra Torres, the divorced wife of former President Alvaro Colom.

Zury Rios, daughter of former dictator Efrain Rios Montt, is also on the ballot. Rios Montt faces charges of crimes against humanity committed during his regime in the 1980s.

Former president in jail

The previous incumbent in the presidency, Otto Perez Molina, resigned earlier this week after Congress stripped him of immunity and prosecutors issued a warrant for his arrest. Perez Molina is currently in jail but denies having taken part, or leading, a fraud scheme whereby importers paid a bribe in exchange for their goods incurring full import duties.

"I don't belong to 'La Linea,'" he said in court last week, referring to the name of the fraud scheme, Spanish for "The Line."

Former Vice President Roxana Baldetti is also in jail, accused of being Number 2 in the "Line" fraud scheme.

If none of the 14 candidates is able to pick up 50 percent of the vote, a runoff will be held on October 25.

Alejandro Maldonado, a 79-year-old conservative who became vice president in May, will serve out the rest of Perez Molina's term before the new president takes office on January 14.

jm/cmk (AP, EFE)