Guatemala votes amid presidential corruption scandal

Guatemalan voters headed to polling stations on Sunday to elect a new president, vice president, congress and a regional parliament. Voters in 388 municipalities were also casting their ballots to elect new mayors.

The elections come after President Otto Perez Molina and his vice president, Roxana Baldetti stepped down amid a scandal over allegations that both were involved in a customs kickback scheme. Both have since been arrested and are in police custody.

Perez Molina, who had been in power since 2012, had long defied calls for his resignation over the corruption allegations. However, he was left with little other choice after Congress stripped him of his presidential immunity and a judge issued a warrant for his detention and questioning.

Perez Molina is not among the 14 candidates running for president because his term limit has expired, but many are widely regarded as belonging to old political guard.

A comedian among the favorites

In what may be a sign of Guatemalans' growing disillusionment with mainstream politicians, some recent opinion polls have made a comedian, Jimmy Morales, the favorite in the presidential race, ahead of long-time frontrunner and right-wing lawyer Manuel Baldizon. Others still had Baldizon with a slight lead over Morales.

The election campaign has been relatively peaceful apart from clashes between supporters of rival political parties in the southern town of Santa Barbara on Saturday, in which one person was killed and more than 20 people arrested.

If none of the candidates gets more than 50 percent of the vote, the contest is to be decided in a run-off on October 25. The first partial results were expected to be announced late on Sunday local time.

pfd/se (AFP, AP)