Free Republic

Guatemala inaugurated leftist President Bernardo Arévalo in the early morning hours of Monday following a series of delays, squabbles, and confusion in Congress. The inauguration was scheduled to take place on Sunday. Arévalo, who succeeded conservative President Alejandro Giammattei, began his term vowing to “rescue” Guatemala from corruption as his political party, the Semilla Movement, faces an investigation by the Guatemalan Prosecutor’s Office that resulted in the party’s disqualification from politics in November. As a result, its recently-inaugurated lawmakers took office on Sunday as independents.

Guatemalan leftist candidate Bernardo Arévalo emerged as the winner of Guatemala’s 2023 presidential runoff election on Sunday, defeating leftist former first lady and first-round front-runner Sandra Torres. The official results published by Guatemala’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) show that Arévalo and his Semilla Movement party obtained 58 percent of the votes, while Torres of the National Unity of Hope (UNE) party obtained 37.24 percent. Voter turnout rate was tallied at 44.98 percent, for a total of roughly 4.2 million votes cast.