Guatemala election: Court orders probe after surprise result

Guatemala could see a vote recount before the second round of its presidential election in August, where former first lady Sandra Torres is expected to face center-left Bernardo Arevalo.

The first round of the vote last weekend presented a highly fractured political landscape in the Central American state, with centrist Torres securing only 15.8% of the ballots to place first.

Even against this background of political division, however, the performance of  her rival Arevalo from the center-left Semilla party was higher than expected — Arevalo received 11.8% of the vote after garnering substantial support in larger cities. This was enough for him to come in second and secure a place in the runoff vote.

The conservative Vamos party's candidate, Mario Conde, took third place with just over 10% of ballots cast in his favor.

Nonetheless, Vamos maintained its lead in Congress, with 39 lawmakers. Torres' party UNE secured 28 seats and Semilla is set to have 23 lawmakers in the 160-member assembly.