On June 25, Guatemalans went to the polls to cast their votes for presidential, congressional, and mayoral candidates in a ritual that occurs every four years but that, in recent years, had become almost meaningless given the levels of corruption, poverty, and inequality that envelop the country. Since Guatemala’s return to democracy with the signing of the Peace Accords in 1997, electoral cycles have tended to be inundated with candidates facing serious accusations. Among those seeking the presidential office have been confessed murderers, generals accused of genocide and other human rights violations, and countless candidates with proven accusations of corruption.

This electoral cycle was no exception. Among the presidential candidates leading the polls were Zury Ríos, the daughter of a general convicted of genocide, who ran for office despite being constitutionally prohibited from doing so; Edmond Mulet, a former United Nations official linked to cases of child trafficking; and Sandra Torres, a former first lady running for the fourth time. In 2019, Torres was arrested for violating election laws related to illicit campaign financing.

On the night of June 25, while the news broadcast the preliminary results of which two candidates would move forward to the second electoral round, the country seemed to stand still. To everyone’s surprise, fighting for second place was the candidate for the Semilla Party, Bernardo Arévalo de León, who did not even appear in most of the polls and was relegated to last place within a group of twenty-three candidates competing for the presidency.