Distrust, discontent mark Guatemala’s presidential runoff campaign

LA MESILLA, Guatemala — Four years ago, Guatemalans went to the polls with jubilation.

Widespread street protests had just forced the resignation of President Otto Perez Molina, who had been accused of graft by a pioneering anti-corruption body.

A record number of voters turned out to elect Perez’s replacement: a well-known comedian named Jimmy Morales, who had vowed to continue fighting corruption.

But as Guatemalans head back to the ballot box Sunday to choose the successor to the termed-out Morales, the mood among voters is bleak.

“Many of us thought there would be a change, but there wasn’t one,” Nimsi Abac, a 20-year-old medical student in the northern border town of La Mesilla, said Friday. She plans to boycott Sunday’s presidential runoff.

A series of recent political developments has eroded optimism here, deepening voter distrust in the country’s elected leaders and sparking concerns among some that Guatemala’s democracy may be at risk.

The election process has been marred by controversy, and there has been little enthusiasm for the two finalists — former first lady Sandra Torres, of the center-left National Unity of Hope party, and Alejandro Giammattei, with the right-wing Vamos party.

Also fueling mass skepticism has been the performance of Morales, once a source of hope, but now, for many, a symbol of disappointment. Instead of fighting corruption, Morales has dismantled the United Nations-backed International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala, known as the CICIG.

He began his assault on the anti-graft body after it implicated him and several family members on allegations of illegal campaign financing. He and his allies in Congress have pulled out all stops to impede the body’s work, accusing the commission of being politically...