Guatemala election seen heading to run-off

Still reeling from a corruption scandal that felled their president three days ago, Guatemalans voted on Sunday to elect a new leader in a tight contest that is likely to head to a second-round run-off.

Otto Perez Molina resigned as president on Thursday and was jailed while a judge weighs charging him over a customs racket. The affair has gutted his government and plunged the poor Central American country into its worst political crisis in decades.

Alejandro Maldonado, a 79-year-old conservative who became vice president in May, will serve out the rest of Perez Molina's term, handing over power on Jan. 14, 2016.

He said he sees restoring confidence in state institutions as his main task.

"I have the task of choosing a government made up of tried and trusted, mature people who believe in our institutions," he told Al Jazeera in Guatemala City.

"But I also want to incorporate youngsters, social activists, to give those generations the opportunity to build the future."

Sunday’s voters appeared to favor three main contenders, all vowing a crackdown on graft after mass protests on the streets.

Leading in most polls with roughly 30 percent backing is Manuel Baldizon, a wealthy 44-year-old businessman and longtime politician. His running mate is accused by prosecutors of influence trafficking, but as a candidate enjoys immunity from prosecution.

In the presidential race, Baldizon's most competitive rivals were television comedian Jimmy Morales, who has never held elective office, former first lady Sandra Torres and Zulia Rios, the daughter of a former dictator accused of genocide.

Morales, 46, boasts of his outsider status and says he is part of the uprising against corruption. He has promised greater transparency, including media review of government contracts.

Torres, 59, divorced former President Alvaro Colom ahead of the last presidential race to try to get around rules barring presidential relatives from running, but was still ruled ineligible. A businesswoman and longtime political party figure, she is proposing a coalition government to respond to the concerns of outraged citizens.

Rios, 47, is the daughter of former dictator Efrain Rios Montt, who faces charges of crimes against humanity for killings by security forces during his 1982-83 regime. She emphasizes her experience from 16 years in Congress, where she promoted laws against discrimination and drug and human trafficking.

Guatemalans were also voting for vice president, members of Congress and the Central American Parliament, and local authorities for municipalities nationwide. Polls closed in the early evening.

If none of the 14 candidates reaches 50 percent, a runoff will be held Oct. 25.

Perez Molina, a retired general who came to power in 2012 promising to be tough on crime, was set to leave office in January.

As leader of Central America's largest economy, the nation’s president will be tasked with tackling a stubbornly high poverty rate, despite nearly uninterrupted economic growth since the end of a 1960-96 civil war.

Al Jazeera and wire services