Comic actor Jimmy Morales is leading Guatemala's Presidential election in preliminary results early Monday. Forty-six-year-old Morales, a centrist, got nearly 25 percent of the vote so far, while his nearest rival former businessman Manuel Baldizon, a conservative, won 21 percent of the vote, according to BBC.
"Guatemala wants change and to not be governed by people with dark pasts. I planted love in my homeland and now I'm harvesting that love," Morales said on Sunday after casting his vote near Guatemala City, according to Reuters. Morales, considered as an outsider in the country's politics, is running for the National Convergence Front.
A run-off is expected as no candidate is likely to get 50 percent of the vote per preliminary results, according to SBS. A second vote will take place on Oct. 25.
Guatemalans voted on Sunday, three days after the resignation of President Otto Perez Molina in connection with a massive bribery scandal. The 64-year-old retired army general was arrested immediately after his resignation.
Otto Perez Molina resigned as president on Thursday following a vote from Congress that stripped him of immunity from prosecution. He denied any wrongdoing during a court appearance on Friday.
Molina, along with more than 20 public officials - including former Vice President Roxana Baldetti - were allegedly involved in bribery, allowing foreign companies to import goods into the country without paying customs duties in return for bribes, HNGN reported previously.
