Bernardo Arévalo, Guatemala’s electoral surprise, makes corruption fight top priority

By SONIA PÉREZ D. and CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN
Associated Press

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Bernardo Arévalo, the surprise of the first round of voting in Guatemala, says the choice in the Aug. 20 presidential runoff is a clear one: Continue living under a corrupt system with his rival or rebuild the country’s democracy with him. In an interview on Tuesday, the social democratic lawmaker said he believes his anti-corruption message resonated with voters. Now he just needs a lot more Guatemalans to hear it. His rival, Sandra Torres, was the top vote-getter Sunday in a field of nearly two-dozen presidential hopefuls and Arévalo was second with neither getting nearly enough votes to win outright, setting up the runoff election.