GUATEMALA CITY: Comedian and political neophyte Jimmy Morales, elected president of Guatemala in a landslide, faced the morning-after challenge of restoring confidence in a state ravaged by corruption, gang violence and poverty.
The 46-year-old conservative swept to victory Sunday on a tide of voter outrage over a corruption scandal that felled his predecessor, Otto Perez.
“With this election you have made me president, I received a mandate and that mandate is to fight the corruption that has consumed us,” Morales said on national TV.
“Thank you for this vote of confidence. My commitment remains to God and the Guatemalan people, and I will work with all my heart and strength not to defraud you.”
Morales, a comic actor and TV personality who has never held elected office, now must set about governing an impoverished Central American country with little to work with but high public expectations and a deep yearning for change.
His conservative FCN-Nacion party holds only 11 seats in the 158-seat Congress.
“What we ask of the government is concrete results from the first day,” said Jorge Briz, head of an umbrella group that represents the private sector. READ MORE
“We want to see a fight against corruption with measurable results.”
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