Global Courant
GUATEMALA CITY — Guatemalans voted on Sunday to elect a new president and vice president and to fill all congressional seats and hundreds of local posts following one of the most tumultuous election seasons in the Central American country’s recent history.
Many Guatemalans expressed disappointment with their presidential choices after three opposition candidates were barred by authorities. A large number of zero votes were expected, and experts said this could depress turnout.
Since none of the 22 presidential candidates came close to the required 50% threshold to win outright, a runoff vote on August 20 between the top two finishers was all but certain.
At the Mixed Urban School No. 2, a combined primary and secondary school in Sumpango, voters began lining up in front of the wall of walls an hour before voting began. The city of about 37,000 inhabitants is located in the mountains less than an hour west of the capital. The voting seemed orderly.
Walter Alfredo Hernández, a 61-year-old lawyer and notary from Sumpango, was one of the first to vote. He was in and out in about 20 minutes.
He drew a clear line between how he thinks things are going in his town – pretty well – and nationally – a disaster.
Guatemala “is steeped in misfortune, in corruption,” Hernández said, before going on to list the co-opted institutions, especially in the country’s legal system.
“The citizen wants to elevate himself and he cannot. The rich have our heads,’ he said, showing that his foot pressed something against the ground. “The powerful, the army officers and the businessmen, they are the ones who bring us to our knees and do not allow us to develop.”
Marleny Cabrera, a 29-year-old teacher at another school, said she was looking for a change in direction for the country.
“I believe there has been a less stable emphasis on education and health,” she said. “In my case, I am looking for the good of the children of our community and I have come to choose the good of Guatemala.”
Some complications were reported on Sunday morning.
Voting never got underway in San Jose del Golfo in central Guatemala. Locals in the town in the highlands did not allow the voting center to open because people from outside the municipality had driven in to vote.
When election authorities tried to open a new voting location in the city, they were blocked by locals, according to a statement from the Guatemala Department’s election commission.
National police launched tear gas in an attempt to free the crowd of about 300, causing people to flee and locals to throw stones. There were about 100 to 150 policemen and soldiers with more coming.
Later on Sunday, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal said the vote in San Jose del Golfo had been canceled because of the disturbances. The city’s residents will be able to vote on August 20 in the expected second round of the presidential election, the tribunal said.
The organization Electoral Lookout said the main election-related issues it was aware of in Guatemala related to alleged busing of voters from outside municipalities, bought votes and some intimidation of journalists.
In San Martin Zapotitlan, about 110 miles west of Guatemala City, locals also reacted angrily to reports that outsiders had been brought in to vote. Local outlet NotiReu showed footage of what it said was a pile of burnt ballots.
President Alejandro Giammattei, who was not seeking re-election, had said on Friday that the elections are “another sign that we live in a stable democracy, something that is consolidated with periodic, free and participatory elections”.
Allegations from both inside and outside Guatemala that the vote had been unfairly skewed to favor the political establishment mounted after several outside candidates were barred by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, the highest authority on the matter.
Among those excluded from the vote was Thelma Cabrera, a leftist and the only Indigenous female candidate reportedly not meeting the requirements to run.
Carlos Pineda, a right-wing populist leading in opinion polls, was denied a spot because of alleged irregularities in his nomination. Roberto Arzú, a conservative candidate for law and order, was excluded for allegedly starting his campaign too early.
The two leading candidates favored to advance to a runoff were Sandra Torres, who divorced Social Democratic president Álvaro Colom in 2011 while in office, and diplomat Edmond Mulet. Zury Ríos Sosa, the daughter of former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt, was also considered a contender.
All three are on the more conservative side of the political spectrum and campaigned on promises to take tough security measures like President Nayib Bukele did in neighboring El Salvador and to promote conservative family values.
Torres, who was making her third bid to win the presidency, also promised bags of basic food for those in need and cuts in taxes on basic food. Mulet said he would give Guatemalans free medicine and support the elderly and single mothers.
Ríos Sosa campaigned to establish the death penalty, ban government posts for those convicted of corruption, protect private property rights and improve the health system.
No leftist party has ruled Guatemala in nearly 70 years, since two leftist governments from 1945 to 1954. The second government was led by President Jacobo Arbenz, who was overthrown in a CIA-backed coup.
The vote comes amid widespread frustration over high crime rates, poverty and malnutrition — all factors that drive tens of thousands of Guatemalans to migrate each year. There is also anger over official corruption and government action against anti-corruption activists.
“What does not allow free and democratic elections in Guatemala is corruption and impunity,” a former Guatemalan attorney general, Thelma Aldana, who sought asylum in the United States under political persecution, wrote in a Twitter post.
___
Sherman reported from Sumpango, Guatemala. San Jose del Golfo AP photojournalist Moises Castillo contributed to this report.
