GUATEMALA: A trickle of voters turned up at the polls early yesterday morning in Guatemala where two pro-business candidates competed for the presidency in a second round run-off vote.
Mr Oscar Berger, one of the country's richest men, was favourite to beat his rival Mr Alvaro Colom, known as the "father of the Maquilas", for his role in developing assembly line factories in Central America.
Mr Berger's Grand National Alliance (Gana) finished eight points clear of Colom's National Union of Hope (UNE) in the first round vote in November but failed to win the required 50 per cent plus one vote required to win office.
Both candidates have similar electoral platforms, pledging to combat corruption and root out drug traffickers who have infiltrated the highest circles of power. The results of yesterday's poll will be known today.
Outgoing President Alfonso Portillo admitted last week that his administration had been marked by "crude" levels of corruption and that he had wielded only a fraction of state power: "I might have had 50 per cent of the power," said Mr Portillo, "Rios Montt had some of it," he added, referring to the former general accused of crimes against humanity. Mr Montt faced a constitutional ban on running for office in 1999 but was elected head of parliament for the Guatemalan Republican Front (FRG) and nominated Alfonso Portillo as his party's presidential candidate.