Guatemala City, August 20 (RHC)-- Guatemala is holding the second round of elections between candidate Sandra Torres and Bernardo Arévalo, after obtaining the majority of votes in the elections of June 25th.

Around 9.4 million people are eligible to vote in the elections, with the 3,500 voting centers installed throughout the Central American country.  According to what has been agreed by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) the voting day will extend until 6 p.m. (local time) when the polling centers will close.

Media sources say that the first official tallies will be known about three hours after the end of voting.

The current electoral process has been the most controversial in Guatemala since the implementation of democracy in 1986 and has been tarnished by the maneuvers of the Public Ministry to try to cancel the Semilla Movement and prevent the participation of Bernardo Arévalo.

The former first lady of the country and presidential aspirant for the Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza (UNE), Sandra Torres obtained almost 900,000 votes.  On the other hand, candidate Bernardo Arévalo reached the runoff by coming in second place with more than 600,000 votes, despite the fact that polls had placed him in eighth place.

In spite of the difference of votes in the first round, the last polls showed Arévalo with 50 percent of the votes and Torres with 32 percent.

The advance of the candidate of the Seed Movement caused the Public Ministry to initiate a series of actions of arrest warrants and attempts to cancel the party for an alleged case of anomalies in the registration process of the political movement in 2018.

The winner of this second electoral round will assume the Presidency of Guatemala from 2024 to 2028 and will replace Alejandro Giammattei, who during his administration has been linked to dozens of bribery and corruption cases.