In a landslide, former actor Jimmy Morales wins presidential election in Guatemala

Former actor Jimmy Morales won the Guatemalan presidential election on Sunday, receiving 70 percent of the vote with 92 percent of ballots counted.

Former First Lady Sandra Torres came in a distant second with 30 percent of the vote, The Wall Street Journal reports. Former President Otto Pérez Molina, his vice president, and other officials resigned six months ago due to corruption scandals and protests, and Morales, a social conservative with the National Convergence Front party, ran with the slogan "Neither corrupt nor a thief." In a television message Sunday night, Morales said: "I have been given a mandate, a mandate to clean up corruption that has eaten at this country." International Transparency's Corruption Perceptions Index ranks Guatemala 115 out of 175, and polls conducted in the country show that Guatemalans are mainly concerned with corruption, even more than insecurity and unemployment, the Journal reports.

Before entering politics, Morales was a comedic actor, at one point starring in a television show where he played a cowboy who accidentally becomes president. In early September, 14 candidates participated in a runoff vote, with Morales and Torres, who also ran on an anti-corruption platform, coming out on top. Morales will take office Jan. 14, 2016.

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