Guatemalans Avoid Voting

Guatemalans chose Sunday between a newspaper publisher and an evangelical Protestant for their next president. But after a bitter runoff campaign, many appeared to have stayed away from the polls.

The race had become a personality contest between publisher Jorge Carpio Nicole, 58, of the National Center Union and Jorge Serrano Elias, 45, of the rightist Solidarity Action Movement, who has been identified with one of Guatemala’s last dictators.

Polls indicated that Serrano could win by a landslide.

“The only problem is that people aren’t voting,” Alejandro Giamattei, a top official with the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, said after the polls had been open several hours.

Giamattei said he expected nearly complete returns today.

The media had dubbed the race between the two contenders the “black campaign” because of the exchange of insults.

“After the sort of campaign we had, a lot of people don’t want to vote for either candidate,” said Rodrigo Anguino, the head of one polling station.

Carpio, a Roman Catholic, tried to portray Serrano as a right-wing religious fanatic, but the religion issue never seemed to ignite.

Guatemala is in the grip of its worst economic crisis in years. Inflation is about 75%, the government is in debt and poverty has worsened over the last five years.