Ipala, Guatemala ? Candidates for Guatemala’s presidential elections pledged to create jobs and halt a wave of kidnappings and murders, wrapping up campaigns Friday that will decide whether a former dictator accused of massacres has a second chance at running the country.

Gen. Efrain Rios Montt is a distant third in the polls, but many fear he and his supporters will refuse to accept defeat in Sunday’s vote. Thousands attacked police and businesses in July, when it appeared court officials were prepared to block Rios Montt’s candidacy because he seized power in a 1982 coup.

Guatemala’s constitution prohibits coup leaders from seeking the presidency, but the Supreme Court, packed with Rios Montt’s supporters, cleared the way for the former dictator to run.

It is unlikely Sunday’s vote will determine Guatemala’s next leader. One candidate must receive more than 50 percent of the vote to win the election outright, or a runoff will be held Dec. 28 between the top two vote-getters.

Former Guatemala City Mayor Oscar Berger and center-left candidate Alvaro Colom of the National Union of Hope party are in a dead heat, with roughly a third of the votes each, according to recent polls.

Rios Montt is far behind, with 11.3 percent, according to a newspaper poll published Wednesday that had a margin of error of 5 percentage points.

Rios Montt and Colom spent Friday morning at last-minute political rallies across Guatemala, but Berger suspended all public activities.

Gen. Efrain Rios Montt, former dictator and presidential candidate of the Guatemalan Republican Front, greets supporters during a rally in Coban, Guatemala. Montt campaigned Friday, the last day of official campaigning ahead of Sunday's elections. Many see Rios Montt's candidacy as a setback to Guatemala's slow recovery from its 1960-1996 civil war.

Backed by his former paramilitary fighters — accused of helping the army burn down villages and killing civilians during the country’s 1960-1996 civil war — Rios Montt is making a last-ditch attempt at the presidency. Many see his candidacy as a setback to Guatemala’s slow, fragile recovery from the war.

The idea of a former dictator trying his hand at democracy is nothing new in Latin America. Daniel Ortega toppled Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza and ruled for 11 years but then lost three election bids. Hugo Banzer of Bolivia ran the government as a military dictator in the 1970s, then was democratically elected president in 1997.

More than 2,000 electoral observers will be stationed throughout the country to prevent violence and make sure that voting is free and open.

Still, many worry there will be violence if Rios Montt — whose Guatemalan Republican Front party currently controls the presidency — loses.

“We are really afraid because of everything that has happened,” said Amelia Villela, a 32-year-old school teacher attending a Colom rally Thursday. “With this government, anything could happen.”