Ing. Álvaro Colom has won (52.7%). Late yesterday evening he made a (partly incomprehensible) victory speech and then rather brusquely refused to answer media questions about his plan to rid Guatemala of poverty. "Mañana..."V found Alexandra and the gang at the table again when she went to vote. They pawed over her cédula once more and pointed out gleefully that their computer print-out had added one more year to her age.
There was hardly anybody else around. What had started out a very warm day had become markedly chilly. In parts of the country turn-out was as low as 10%, with some polling stations open for up to three hours before a single voter showed up, and thus far neither candidate has mustered 2m votes. Everyone seems to be a bit exhausted by the process and there has been no major aggro in the streets.
V changed her voting intention at the last minute − as she usually does − rationalising that she didn't want to feel responsible when the other lot messed up the country, so convinced she was that Mano Dura was all set to claim the presidency and that her vote would be meaningless. But now, somewhat unexpectedly, she's feeling like a winner!
Tough on crime has been temporarily seen off by tough on the causes of crime. This is how the BBC sees it. The murder rate currently stands at 5000 per annum. Let's see what it's like in 2012.
So it's adios to Otto and Mano Tiesa for at least four more years. The Washington Post can't quite believe that the candidate with the better hair lost. He also had the best campaign song, so here it is again, one last time:
Plus a less official and professional election broadcast found on YouTube:
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