Guatemala will elect a new president in a run-off election on Sunday – with outsider Bernardo Arévalo, a social democrat, seen as the favourite.

Ex-first lady and three-time presidential candidate Sandra Torres also wants the top job, but Arévalo was clearly ahead in the polls with his plan to fight corruption and the erosion of democracy in Central America’s most populous country.

“Today we have to vote. We all have the right and the privilege to express our opinion to shape the future of the country,” Mr Arévalo said after casting his ballot in the capital Guatemala City, as reported by the Guatemalan newspaper Prensa Libre.

Torres did not comment on the voting, the paper reported.

On X, formerly Twitter, Ms Torres, who would be the first woman to hold the office in Guatemala, wrote that she was “totally committed to the change in our country.”

Polling stations were due to close at 6:00 p.m (midnight GMT), with first results expected on Monday.

Around 9.4 million voters were called upon to choose the successor to the conservative Prime Minister Alejandro Giammattei, who, due to term limits, is not allowed to run again.

The election process was overshadowed by attempts by the political elite and the attorney general’s office to stop Mr Arévalo’s ascent by legal means.

The European Union expressed concern about this.

In June, Mr Arévalo of the Movimiento Semilla (Seed Movement) party had unexpectedly become the second strongest candidate in the first round of elections.

First place went to Ms Torres of the National Unity of Hope (UNE) party.

In the previous two elections, Ms Torres had failed both times in the run-off. In the polls for the second round of voting on Sunday, more than 60 per cent of respondents said they would vote for Mr Arévalo.

Mr Arévalo, a sociologist and ex-diplomat is the son of the country’s first democratically elected president, Juan José Arévalo (1945-1951).

Ms Torres was the wife of the late ex-head of state Álvaro Colom, who ruled from 2008 to 2012.

The centre-left party UNE, which she co-founded, is Guatemala’s largest party.

However, Ms Torres recently moved to the centre-right.

(dpa/NAN)