MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Total vote recount ordered in Guatemala's Sunday presidential election

Court president Julio Solórzano told journalists in Guatemala City that he had ordered a recount to “clarify disagreements.”

Guatemala will hold a total vote recount after fraud allegations in the wake of last Sunday's presidential and legislative elections, the country's Supreme Electoral Court announced on Thursday.

Court president Julio Solórzano told journalists in Guatemala City that he had ordered a recount to “clarify disagreements.”

Speaking at a news conference, Solórzano said the recount would begin on Monday.

Center-left former First Lady Sandra Torres leads the presidential poll with 25.7% of the vote, ahead of conservative Alejandro Giammattei, with 14%.

Both had been expected to contest the Aug 11 run-off round before Thursday's announcement.

The leftist Movement for the Liberation of Peoples - whose candidate Thelma Cabrera came fifth in the presidential race - denounced “evident electoral fraud.”

Solórzano said he had invited Cabrera and her party to the court to check her complaint.

The tumultuous campaign to succeed outgoing President Jimmy Morales saw two leading candidates barred from taking part in the poll and the country's top electoral crimes prosecutor flee the country after threats.

Disturbances broke out on Thursday in several municipalities where mayoral candidates rejected the results.

A lawmaker from Morales' FCN-Nacion party, Estuardo Galdamez, went on social media to condemn electoral fraud and said the country was on the brink of becoming a “dictatorship” under Torres' Unity of Hope party.

Election monitors from the Organization of American States (OAS), led by former Costa Rican president Luis Guillermo Solis, had signed off on the results.

One person died and nine police officers were wounded in disturbances that followed the polls last Sunday.