This post is actually a two part post as well. The first part I wrote on September 12th or so and never posted. The second part, I'm posting live-ish.
September 12
"Guatemala had its first round of presidential elections on September 11. The idea of voting on a Sunday seemed quite odd to me at first, but I suppose it is when the most people have to opportunity to go to the polls. There is no absentee voting, and people sometimes wait in line over 3 hours to vote. Due to the number of political parties here in Guatemala, these were just the presidential primaries to narrow the vote down to two candidates, but for other offices (mayor, congressperson, and delegation to the Central American convention, among others), this was it. Those of us who could not vote, prayed. We prayed that the Guatemalan people would make the right choice for this country, that the polls would not be corrupted or compromised, and that no violence would break out. But to be fair, perhaps the most wonderful part about elections is that the political ads stop."
Today
Yesterday, we had the final elections here in Guatemala. Again, those of us who could not vote prayed. We prayed for safety, honesty, fairness. And we prayed that God's will be done at the voting booths. People held very serious concerns about both candidates. They said that Otto Perez Molina was going to bring back the killing of Mayan people, and they said that Manuel Baldizon is receiving money from drug cartels and would do nothing to stop narcotrafficking in Guatemala. An article I read said that with 96% of the votes counted, Otto Perez had 55% of the votes. For further details, I'll provide the following link: http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Re
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