Guatemala City, September 4 (teleSUR-RHC)-- The new Guatemalan President Alejandro Maldonado asked all cabinet members and top government officials to hand in their resignations, and announced he would name all new ministers.

His announcement came immediately after he was sworn in as caretaker president after Congress accepted the resignation of former President Otto Perez Molina, who is now in jail awaiting trial for corruption.
    
Maldonado delivered a brief speech to Guatemalans, who have been protesting in the streets since April.  He told them that in the months he is to be in office, he would construct a legacy of honesty to – in this words – “recover faith in Guatemalan democracy.”

“You cannot consider your work done now,” he told Guatemalans. “In the months left before the year ends, there should be a positive response [to your demands], spaces should be opened for youth, activists and professionals,” Maldonado said.  “This generation that has risen with symbols of peace cannot be stagnated nor become conformists.”

Maldonado will be president until January, when a new head of state is to take office. Presidential elections will take place this Sunday and will confront a wealthy businessperson and politician, Manuel Baldizon – who is ahead of the polls – with 13 other candidates, among which there is a comedian without political experience, and ex-first lady and the daughter of former dictator Efrain Rios Montt, who is accused of genocide.

If none of the candidates garner over 50 percent of the votes, a second runoff round will take place October 25th.