Scandal-hit Guatemala's presidential race looks set for run-off

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Guatemala looked bound for a presidential election run-off as early results showed the three leading candidates splitting the vote on Sunday, prolonging political uncertainty just days after a graft scandal toppled the president.

Otto Perez resigned as president on Thursday and spent election day in jail while a judge weighed charging him over a customs corruption racket.

The affair gutted his government and plunged the poor Central American country into its worst political crisis in two decades.

Comic actor Jimmy Morales led Sunday's election race, buoyed by voters' anger over corruption. He had 25.7 percent support with returns in from 29 percent of polling stations, although he was far short of the 50 percent needed for an outright victory.

Manuel Baldizon, a conservative businessman who had until recently been favoured to win, trailed with 20 percent and was fighting against Sandra Torres, a former first lady with around 18.4 percent support, for a place in the October run-off.

Morales, a 46-year-old centrist, won support late in the campaign, in part with a slogan "not corrupt, not a thief" that resonated with disenchanted voters. 

"We have suffered such great disappointments that you end up telling yourself there is no one to put your trust in," said housewife Lidia Mendoza, 38, before polls closed. She said she voted for Morales precisely because he was a political outsider.

While Morales has not laid out a clear political agenda, he has vowed to fight poverty by improving the education system and decentralizing the budget and government powers.

"Guatemala wants change and to not be governed by people with dark pasts," a smiling Morales said after voting near Guatemala City, flashing a victory sign to reporters. "I planted love in my homeland and now I'm harvesting that love."

(Additional reporting by Sofia Menchu and Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Simon Gardner and Kieran Murray)