The National Unity of Hope candidate Alvaro Colom led Sunday's presidential election in Guatemala with 28.04-percent support, the latest poll showed.
With 76.26 percent of ballot counted, Otto Perez Molina, a right-wing former general, and the ruling party candidate Alejandro Giammattei trailed him with 24.59 and 17.51 percent votes respectively, the country's Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) declared on Monday.
If no candidate obtains more than 50 percent of the vote, a runoff between the top two candidates will be held on Nov. 4.
Nobel Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu, who is a candidate of the left-leaning Together for Guatemala party, obtained only 3.02 percent votes.
A total of 14 candidates are running for the presidency.
Voters around the country turned out at 2060 polling centers on Sunday to choose a new president, vice-president, 158 national legislators and 332 mayors.
The election, which ended at 6:00 p.m. local time Sunday (0000 GMT Monday), was held smoothly without violence. Observers from the Organization of American States (OAS) and the European Union (EU) on Sunday expressed satisfaction over Guatemala's general elections.
The Guatemalan government deployed nearly 20,000 police officers and 11,000 soldiers to ensure the election went smoothly.
Source: Xinhua
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