Tomorrow is a day for remembering the terrorist attacks ten years ago. Here in Guatemala, it’s also elections day. There are candidates signs everywhere. There are lots of political parties, and ten different people running for president. A candidate has to get over 50% of the votes in order to win, so typically there is a second round of elections for the top two candidates. The polls have the first place guy at 46%, so there’s a good chance that he’ll win it this first round.

The president’s wife made lots of news because she wanted to run this year, but there’s a law that no family member of the current president can run. She divorced him in order to try to run, but after months of deliberation in the supreme court she was denied being put on the ballot.

A pastor was also initially denied being put on the ballot due to a law that prohibits a religious minister from running for president. He had stepped down from working as a pastor 5 years ago, so he was eventually allowed to run. The issue was a surprise to everyone because Guatemala has already had a former paster as president in the past, and the current president is also a Mayan priest!

Guatemala needs your prayers tomorrow! The biggest issue for this election is crime. Drug cartels have been moving down from Mexico these past few years, and the current president hasn’t done much to stop them. CNN posted a story yesterday about the situation in Guatemala that is very interesting. I really hope that we get a president who is tough on crime.

Please pray for Guatemala!

Update:
The frontrunner didn’t get as many votes as the polls predicted, so he has to run against the second place candidate in the next round of elections on November 6th.