TV comic Jimmy Morales wins Guatemala presidential runoff

TV comic and self-styled outsider Jimmy Morales won election as Guatemala’s next president Sunday, riding a wave of popular anger against the political class after huge anticorruption protests helped oust the last government. “My commitment remains to God and the Guatemalan people, and I will work with all my heart and strength not to defraud you”, he said. “I have received a mandate, and the mandate of the people of Guatemala is to fight against the corruption that has consumed us”.

The 46-year-old Morales overwhelmingly beat centre-left rival and former first lady Sandra Torres in a run-off vote despite his lack of government experience and a few policy ideas that strike many as eccentric.

In September, former President Otto Pérez Molina resigned and was soon arrested amid a bribery and corruption scandal.

Guatemalans from all regions have one thing in common, they all know that there is a distrust between the people and the politicians.

According to declassified USA government documents, Ovalle held an important position in military operations in the Ixil Triangle area of Guatemala in 1981-198, under the successive military dictatorships of Generals Romeo Lucas Garcia and Efrain Rios-Montt.

After a United Nations backed investigation identified Molina and the vice president guilty of taking bribes to let imports in legally without paying duties in customs, the citizens of the Latin American country started viewing Morales as the “least worst option” – hence, the victory.

“As Mr. Morales climbed in the polls, promising change, many in the business elite threw their support behind him, including the powerful confederation known as Cacif and the owner of Guatemala’s broadcast television monopoly”.

“The new president will face a somber panorama because the state is in a death spiral”, said Manfredo Marroquin, head of the local chapter of Transparency global. Those former soldiers participated on the government side of a brutal civil war that led to widespread human rights abuses, and mass killings that Morales has said can not be considered genocide.

Yet, Jimmy might have to grin and bear it, as his National Convergence Party’s only has a minority postion in Guatemala’s Congress. “We should really ask who is behind the candidate…” On the other side of the election, Clinton is nearly certain to win the Democratic nomination – meaning that whoever wins the GOP nomination will be facing off against a former First Lady of the United States.

Morales has denied his party has any abusers in its ranks, but analysts say he will be under close scrutiny. She points out Morales has the support of the military. A good example of America not caring is Hillary Clinton’s email and Benghazi scandals, yet she is the forerunner of all the Democratic party presidential candidates.