Global Courant
On June 25, the local authorities will also be elected, in the municipalities the registered forms seek to reach the highest position in the community to manage the town.
Some communes are more attractive to political parties. The five municipalities with the most forms of registered municipal corporations of political parties are: Villa Nueva, with 31; Mixco, with 28; San Miguel Petapa, with 27; San Juan Sacatepéquez, with 25; and Quetzaltenango, with 24.
In addition, 24 forms participate for the commune of Cobán, as well as for the capital. They are followed by Villa Canales and Escuintla with 22 each and Huehuetenango with 21 mayoral candidates.
This is in accordance with the monitoring of the Electoral Observation Mission of Guatemala (MOE-Gt), in which 32 municipalities were verified, corresponding to the 22 departmental capitals and the 10 municipalities with the most registered citizens. In the evaluation, the applications of the electoral civic committees were excluded.
Budget
According to the Integrated Local Government Accounting System portal (Sicoin GL), of the 10 municipalities, the one with the most budget is Guatemala with Q1 billion. For Villa Nueva Q962 million are allocated and for Mixco Q721 million.
Quetzaltenango manages Q703 million, Cobán Q300 million, San Juan Sacatepéquez Q255 million. While San Miguel Petapa has Q191 million, Villa Canales Q181 million, Huehuetenango Q153 million and Escuintla has Q143 million of current budget.
The analyst from the Association for Research and Social Studies (Asíes), Luis Linares, said that state institutions are perceived as loot, “to the extent that a municipality has a large budget, it is like a more coveted prey for many ”.
He also commented that depending on the size of the municipality is the possibility of capturing votes in the five ballots.
In this sense, Damaso Rosales, an expert on municipal issues, agreed that the groups are trying to add votes to the other ballots. “These municipalities can generate votes for their list of district representatives, as well as for those for the presidential binomials,” he declared.
Matches with more sheets
In the same way, the MOE-Gt counted the parties that more candidates for mayors nominated in those 32 study municipalities. Being the National Unity of Hope (UNE) the group with the most amount postulating 31 forms.
It is followed by Vamos for a Different Guatemala and Cabal with 30, the Blue party with 29, vision with Values (Viva) and the Movement for the Liberation of the Peoples (MLP) with 28 candidacies.
Linares explained that in the last elections the number of political parties has increased, which, in his opinion, happens in democracies in transition, however in the country the situation has occurred for several years.
“The candidates do not represent political forces, ideological currents, sectors of the population. The postulates are generally people who approach the parties in order to use the party as a vehicle for, to get to public office,” he added.
more votes
Under Rosales’ analysis, the parties seek votes on the mayoral payroll in order to integrate councilors into the corporation.
This is because the Electoral and Political Parties Law (LEPP) establishes in Article 203 that the method to be used for the formation of municipal corporations will be carried out by the minority representation system.
According to the analyst, the parties look for the largest departments because depending on the number of inhabitants, it is the number of councilors that make up the mayor’s office, as established by the LEPP. “The per diems that councilors receive in the municipalities become attractive,” he clarified.
Per session, the fees to be charged in some municipalities are between Q4 thousand 500 and Q3 thousand 500, according to Rosales. “It becomes something like a perverse incentive for some people who also want to include more corporations to be able to include councilors,” he highlighted.
Consequences
Linares commented that the interest in coming to power for their own benefit in the communes affects the neighbors due to the inadequate management of resources that occurs. “The consequence is on the quality of life of the population due to the mismanagement of public services,” he said.
He added: “We have chaos in terms of urban planning, in the road system and as a consequence of traffic, and the lack of attention to the problems of solid waste, of river pollution.”
Rosales added that councilors committed to their own interests will respond to them and not to those of minorities, as the representation of minorities is designed.
