San Francisco Frontiers - 'We want new faces': Guatemalans vote in tense runoff

The race pits reformist outsider Bernardo Arevalo against former first lady Sandra Torres, both social democrats, meaning Guatemala will have its first leftist leader in over a decade.

The Central American nation is dogged by poverty, violence and graft, with thousands of its citizens heading abroad every year in search of a better life, many to the United States.

"You can no longer live anywhere, because there is so much crime," complained 66-year-old housewife Maria Rac, an Indigenous Mayan who voted in the town of San Juan Sacatepequez, 30 kilometers (20 miles) west of the capital.

Truck driver Efrain Boch, 47, voting in the same town, pleaded with the new government to tackle corruption.

The anti-graft crusader Arevalo pulled off a big upset by finishing second in the first round, and opinion polls have shown him with a strong lead ahead of his rival Torres.

"We are sure that the winners will be the people of Guatemala," Arevalo said after voting in the capital.

Observers fear authorities will attempt to undermine the vote after efforts by a top prosecutor to have Arevalo disqualified, citing irregularities in how his Semilla party was formed.

Raids were also carried out at Semilla offices and those of electoral officials.

- 'Prey' of the corrupt -

The prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche -- sanctioned by Washington for corruption -- said he did not rule out more raids and possible arrests after the elections.

"The real power of democracy comes from respecting the will of the people," the US assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere affairs, Brian Nichols, posted on social media on Friday.

Arevalo is the son of the country's first democratically elected president, Juan Jose Arevalo.

"We have been the victims, the prey, of corrupt politicians for years," Arevalo, a 64-year-old sociologist and former diplomat, said on the campaign trail.

His rival Torres is seen as representing the establishment.

"Traditional political forces have bet on Torres, because Arevalo is seen as a risk to the continuity of the system," said analyst Bernardo Matute of the Gobernalasis center.

Mayan farmer Brigido Chavix, 57, said he did not support Arevalo, "but I voted for him because we want new faces."

"That lady (Torres) has already been around for a long time talking about policies, policies, and she has never carried them out."

- Corrupt have 'taken control' -

Torres, 67, the ex-wife of deceased leftist president Alvaro Colom, is taking her fourth shot at the presidency.

On Friday, she raised doubts about the objectivity of the country's electoral board, accusing it of leaning toward Arevalo's party.

She has dismissed Arevalo as a "foreigner" because he was born in Uruguay while his father was in exile.

"We cannot allow Guatemala to fall into the hands of radicals," she said recently in a jab at Arevalo. "We cannot permit Guatemala to become a Venezuela or a Cuba."

Family values are prized in the staunchly Catholic country and both candidates oppose abortion and same-sex marriage.

However, to drum up support, Torres has tried to convince her voters that Arevalo "does not believe in God and defends marriage between two men and two women."

The winner will replace unpopular right-wing President Alejandro Giammattei, who is constitutionally limited to one term.

Observers have decried state efforts to protect a corrupt system benefiting those in power, with several prosecutors and journalists detained or forced into exile under Giammattei.

The corrupt "have progressively taken control of all state institutions," former attorney general Claudia Paz y Paz -- who is now in Costa Rica -- told AFP.

The first round of the election in June saw low voter turnout and more than 17 percent of ballots cast were invalid, with little hope among Guatemalans that their fortunes would change.

Guatemala has some of the worst poverty, malnutrition and child mortality rates in Latin America, according to the World Bank.

Around 9.4 million of the country's 17.6 million people are eligible to vote, until polls close at 6:00pm local time (0000 GMT).

First results are expected to trickle in late into the evening. The winner will take power on January 14.

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F.Garcia--SFF