Guatemalan Businessman, Ex-General Head to Runoff

“Three-time presidential candidate ílvaro Colom and former army general Otto Pérez Molina easily outdistanced 12 opponents in Sunday’s presidential election and will face each other in a Nov. 4 runoff, according to results announced Monday.

With more than 96 percent of the votes counted, Colom, a businessman, had 28 percent, winning majorities in 16 of Guatemala’s 22 states, known here as departments. But Pérez Molina, who got 24 percent of the votes, was able to force a runoff with a strong showing in heavily populated Guatemala City. Nobel Peace Prize recipient Rigoberta MenchÚ, the first indigenous woman to run for president of Guatemala, finished a distant sixth with 3 percent after drawing much international attention in the early days of the campaign.”

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