2007 Guatemalan general election
A general election was held in Guatemala in two rounds on 9 September and 4 November 2007. Voters went to the polls to elect a new President and Vice President of the Republic, 158 congressional deputies, and 332 mayors.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Guatemala |
---|
Judiciary |
Guatemala portal |
Results
A total of fifteen parties contested the election, though one of them (the Front for Democracy) did not field a candidate for the presidential election.
Presidential election
Around 60% of the voting public participated in the 9 September first-round vote. However, no candidate secured more than 50% of the vote, and so a run-off election was held between Álvaro Colom of the National Unity of Hope (UNE) and former Army General Otto Pérez Molina of the Patriotic Party (PP) on 4 November 2007.[1][2]
The ruling Grand National Alliance (GANA), after placing third in the first-round vote, declined to endorse either Colom or Pérez Molina for the second round.[3]
With 97.23% of the vote counted in the second round, Colom was declared the winner with just over 52 percent.
Congressional election
The National Unity of Hope (UNE) made huge gains in the election, receiving 27.08%, nearly 10 percentage points more than November 2003. The Patriotic Party (PP), which ran independent of the Grand National Alliance (GANA), received 24.97% of the vote. GANA itself received 18.28% of the vote.[4]
Presidential and vice-presidential candidates
A full list appears on the Electoral Court's website.
- Óscar Castañeda (VP: Roger Valenzuela) for the National Advancement Party (PAN)
- Vinicio Cerezo Blandón (VP: Pablo Ramírez Rivas) for Guatemalan Christian Democracy (DCG). Cerezo Blandón is the son of Vinicio Cerezo Arévalo, who served as president from 1986 to 1991.
- Álvaro Colom (VP: José Rafael Espada) for the National Unity of Hope (UNE). Colom was the runner-up in the 2003 presidential election.
- Manuel Conde Orellana (VP: Juan Francisco Manrique) for the Democratic Union (UD)
- Mario Estrada (VP: Mario Torres Marroquín) for the Nationalist Change Union (UCN).
- Fritz García-Gallont (VP: Enrique Godoy García Granados) for the Unionist Party (PU).
- Alejandro Giammattei (VP: Alfredo Vila Girón) for the Grand National Alliance (GANA). Giammattei served as director of the national prison service under GANA president Óscar Berger.
- Pablo Monsanto (VP: Mariano Portillo Lemus) for the New Nation Alliance (ANN).
- Rigoberta Menchú (VP: Luis Fernando Montenegro) for the Encounter for Guatemala (EG) party. Menchú is a K'iche' Maya and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Press reports in late August reported that she had withdrawn from the race because of financial constraints and low levels of support;[5] these reports were false.[6]
- Otto Pérez Molina (VP: Ricardo Castillo Sinibaldi) for the Patriotic Party. Pérez Molina is a retired army general who was active in the Civil War.
- Luis Rabbé (VP: Haroldo Quej Chen) for the Guatemalan Republican Front (FRG)
- Héctor Rosales (VP: Carlos Pérez Rodríguez) for Authentic Integral Development (DIA).
- Miguel Ángel Sandoval (VP: Walda Barrios Ruiz) for Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity–MAIZE (URNG–MAIZ).
- Eduardo Suger (VP: Erwin Lobos Ríos) for the Social Action Centre (CASA).
Presidential and vice-presidential candidates
National Unity of Hope | ||
---|---|---|
Álvaro Colom | Rafael Espada | |
for President | for Vice President | |
General Secretary of National Unity of Hope (2003–2007) |
Founder of the Cardiovascular Surgery Unit of Guatemala (1994) |
Patriotic Party | ||
---|---|---|
Otto Pérez Molina | Alejandro Castillo Sinibaldi | |
for President | for Vice President | |
General Secretary of Patriotic Party (2002- ) Deputy of the Congress (2004- ) |
President of IRTRA (1962- ) |
Polls
Poll by | Date | Colom | Pérez | Giammattei | Menchú | Suger | Undecided |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Siglo XXI | Nov. 2007 | 47.4 | 52.6 | - | - | - | - |
BGC | Nov. 2007 | 48.0 | 52.0 | - | - | - | - |
Prensa Libre | Nov. 2007 | 47.0 | 53.0 | - | - | - | - |
El Periódico | Nov. 2007 | 39.4 | 35.1 | - | - | - | 25.5 |
El Periódico | Oct. 2007 | 37.3 | 39.8 | - | - | - | 22.9 |
Siglo XXI | Oct. 2007 | 46.2 | 53.8 | - | - | - | - |
Prensa Libre | Oct. 2007 | 45.6 | 54.4 | - | - | - | - |
Prensa Latina | September 2007 | 34.7 | 26.8 | 13.3 | |||
Siglo XXI | September 2007 | 41.4 | 39.3 | 9.5 | 5 | ||
Prensa Libre | September 2007 | 31.7 | 31.8 | 14.6 | 3.1 | 4.5 | 27.6 |
El Periódico | Aug. 2007 | 30.7 | 27.7 | 10.5 | 5.7 | 1.7 | 16.7 |
Prensa Libre | Aug. 2007 | 22 | 17.5 | 7.67 | 2.42 | 3.17 | 28.83 |
El Periódico | Jul. 2007 | 33 | 23.1 | 8.9 | 5.5 | 18.5 | |
Prensa Libre | Jul. 2007 | 21.33 | 14.42 | 8.17 | 2.42 | 2.5 | 37.92 |
El Periódico | Jun. 2007 | 28 | 13.2 | 5.8 | 6.7 | 33.4 | |
Prensa Libre | Jun. 2007 | 20.75 | 12.25 | 8.17 | 1.5 | 1 | |
El Periódico | May 2007 | 25.9 | 15.3 | 5.6 | 6.2 | 36 | |
Prensa Libre | May 2007 | 20.6 | 11.4 | 7.1 | 2.9 | 1.5 | |
El Periódico | Apr. 2007 | 28.6 | 10.4 | 6.3 | 5.6 | 42.3 | |
Prensa Libre | Apr. 2007 | 26.5 | 10 | 9.6 | 2.75 | 1.25 | |
El Periódico | Jan. 2007 | 34.6 | 15.9 | 0.2 | 1.4 | 29.8 | |
Prensa Libre | Jan. 2007 | 21.23 | 10.52 | 7.54 | 2.18 | 0.60 | |
Results
President
Candidate | Running mate | Party | First round | Second round | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Votes | % | Votes | % | ||||
Álvaro Colom | Rafael Espada | National Unity of Hope | 926,236 | 28.25 | 1,449,533 | 52.81 | |
Otto Pérez Molina | Ricardo Castillo Sinibaldi | Patriotic Party | 771,813 | 23.54 | 1,295,108 | 47.19 | |
Alejandro Giammattei | Alfredo Vila Girón | Grand National Alliance | 565,017 | 17.23 | |||
Eduardo Suger | Erwin Lobos Ríos | Social Action Centre | 244,373 | 7.45 | |||
Luis Rabbé | Haroldo Quej Chen | Guatemalan Republican Front | 239,204 | 7.30 | |||
Mario Estrada | Mario Torres Marroquín | National Change Union | 103,695 | 3.16 | |||
Rigoberta Menchú | Luis Fernando Montenegro | Encuentro por Guatemala | 100,365 | 3.06 | |||
Fritz García Gallont | Enrique Godoy García Granados | Unionist Party | 95,280 | 2.91 | |||
Óscar Castañeda | Roger Valenzuela | National Advancement Party | 83,369 | 2.54 | |||
Miguel Ángel Sandoval | Walda Barrios Ruiz | Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity | 70,208 | 2.14 | |||
Manuel Conde Orellana | Juan Francisco Manrique | Democratic Union | 24,893 | 0.76 | |||
Pablo Monsanto | Mariano Portillo Lemus | New Nation Alliance | 19,640 | 0.60 | |||
Héctor Rosales | Carlos Pérez Rodríguez | Authentic Integral Development | 18,395 | 0.56 | |||
Vinicio Cerezo Blandón | Pablo Ramírez Rivas | Guatemalan Christian Democracy | 16,461 | 0.50 | |||
Total | 3,278,949 | 100.00 | 2,744,641 | 100.00 | |||
Valid votes | 3,278,949 | 90.68 | 2,744,641 | 95.06 | |||
Invalid/blank votes | 336,918 | 9.32 | 142,565 | 4.94 | |||
Total votes | 3,615,867 | 100.00 | 2,887,206 | 100.00 | |||
Registered voters/turnout | 5,990,029 | 60.36 | 5,990,029 | 48.20 | |||
Source: TSE, TSE |
Congress
Party | National | District | Total seats |
+/– | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Votes | % | Seats | Votes | % | Seats | |||
National Unity of Hope | 720,285 | 22.84 | 8 | 44 | 52 | +20 | ||
Grand National Alliance | 521,600 | 16.54 | 6 | 31 | 37 | –10 | ||
Patriotic Party | 493,791 | 15.66 | 6 | 23 | 29 | New | ||
Guatemalan Republican Front | 306,166 | 9.71 | 3 | 11 | 14 | –29 | ||
Encounter for Guatemala | 194,809 | 6.18 | 2 | 2 | 4 | New | ||
Unionist Party | 192,295 | 6.10 | 2 | 4 | 6 | –1 | ||
Social Action Centre | 154,001 | 4.88 | 1 | 4 | 5 | New | ||
National Advancement Party | 143,268 | 4.54 | 1 | 2 | 3 | –14 | ||
National Change Union | 128,109 | 4.06 | 1 | 4 | 5 | New | ||
Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity | 112,249 | 3.56 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | ||
Authentic Integral Development | 45,082 | 1.43 | 0 | 0 | 0 | –1 | ||
Democratic Union | 44,359 | 1.41 | 0 | 1 | 1 | –1 | ||
New National Alliance | 43,148 | 1.37 | 0 | 0 | 0 | –6 | ||
Front for Democracy | 28,604 | 0.91 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | ||
Guatemalan Christian Democracy | 25,450 | 0.81 | 0 | 0 | 0 | –1 | ||
Invalid/blank votes | 452,503 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
Total | 3,605,719 | 100 | 31 | 127 | 158 | 0 | ||
Registered voters/turnout | 5,990,029 | 60.19 | – | 5,990,029 | – | – | – | |
Source: TSE, IFES |
References
- Colom Far Ahead of Rivals in Guatemala Archived 6 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine Angus Reid Global Monitor, 13 February 2007
- Guatemala heads for run-off vote BBC News, 10 September 2007
- GANA Party Stays Neutral Prensa Latina, 13 September 2007
- UNE se coloca arriba PP baja Archived 14 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine Elecciones Guatemala, 10 September 2007 (in Spanish)
- Guatemala Nobel Prize winner Menchu halts presidential campaign People's Daily, 27 August 2007
- Menchú NO ha cerrado campaña por falta de recursos
External links
- Elecciones Guatemala (in Spanish)