Presidential election in Guatemala 2019

‹ 2015 • •›
Presidential election in Guatemala
June 16, 2019 (1st ballot)
August 11, 2019 (2nd ballot - runoff)

	Vamos
	Alejandro Giammattei
	be right	1,907,696
		58.87%

	UNE
	Sandra Torres
	be right	1,384,005
		41.13%

Heads of state
Before the election Jimmy Morales FCN Elected Alejandro Giammattei Vamos

In the presidential election in Guatemala in 2019 was Alejandro Giammattei the President of Guatemala selected. He was sworn in as President on January 14, 2020.

Starting position

A 36-year civil war ended in Guatemala in 1996 . There is no progress in coming to terms with the crimes. Violence is still a major problem in the country. According to the UN , 60% of the more than 17 million Guatemalans live in poverty, which particularly affects the indigenous majority of the population. Due to the precarious security situation, many Guatemalans try to emigrate. In July 2019, a migration pact was agreed with the USA , which defines Guatemala as a safe third country, according to which refugees traveling through Guatemala cannot apply for asylum in the USA, but instead have to apply for asylum in Guatemala. The treaty, which has not yet been ratified by Congress , is rejected by the population and viewed critically by the most promising presidential candidates.

An originally very promising candidate, former Attorney General Thelma Aldana , was excluded from the election. In previous years, she and the UN anti-corruption commission CICIG had imprisoned several former presidents, ministers and business representatives. After receiving death threats, she fled to the United States . Zury Ríos, the daughter of the former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt , and two other potential candidates were also excluded .

Polls predicted a relatively low turnout of 61%. The most common reason given for not voting was the lack of a suitable candidate. According to polls, the most important issues for voters were the security situation in the country, unemployment, the high cost of living and corruption.

Around 8 million eligible voters were called to elect the successor to President Jimmy Morales . The Guatemalan constitution does not allow re-election of the president. Should none of the 19 candidates achieve more than 50% of the votes in the first ballot, a runoff between the two candidates with the most votes was planned.

At the same time, the general election , the election of 20 members of the Central American Parliament and 340 mayoral elections took place on June 16, 2019 .

Election and runoff

The first ballot took place on June 16, the runoff election on August 11, 2019.

In the first ballot, the former first lady Sandra Torres from the formally social democratic UNE was in the lead with around 25.5% of the vote. On August 11, she ran for the runoff election against the conservative Alejandro Giammattei ( Vamos ), who had received almost 14% of the votes in the first round. Giammattei prevailed in the second ballot with almost 60% of the valid votes.

The candidate Estuardo Galdámez from the previous ruling party, the national conservative Frente de Convergencia Nacional (FCN), achieved only 4.12% in the first ballot.

Results

Preliminary official results (counting status 99%)
candidate		Political party	First round of elections		Second round of voting
candidate		Political party	be right	%	be right	%
	Sandra Torres	UNE	1,122,909	25.53	1,384,005	41.13
	Alejandro Giammattei	Vamos	614.025	13.96	1,907,696	58.87
	Edmond Mulet	Humanista (PHG)	493,349	11.22
	Thelma Cabrera	MLP	456.114	10.37
	Roberto Arzú	PAN – Podemos	267,446	6.08
	Isaac Farchi	VIVA	259,606	5.90
	Manuel Villacorta	WINAQ	229.734	5.22
	Estuardo Galdámez	FCN	181.093	4.12
	Julio Héctor Estrada	Creo	165.085	3.75
	Fredy Cabrera	Todos	137,800	3.13
	Amílcar Rivera	Victoria	111,782	2.54
	Pablo Ceto	URNG-Maíz	94,838	2.16
	Pablo Duarte	Unionista	63,069	1.43
	Manfredo Marroquín	EG	50,416	1.15
	Aníbal García	Libre	41,692	0.95
	Benito Morales	Convergencia	37,736	0.86
	Luis Velásquez	Unidos	26,972	0.61
	José Luis Chea Urruela	PPT	23,899	0.54
	Danilo Roca	Avanza	21,189	0.48

Valid votes			4,398,754	86.82
Invalid votes ^*			208,726	4.12
Abstentions (white elected)			458.999	9.06

Eligible voters			8,150,221	100.00
voter turnout			5,066,479	62.16	3,291,701	40.39

^* Invalid votes (votos nulos) where the election was not marked with a suitable symbol or where the marking runs over several ballot papers.
In addition, 59,504 votes were declared invalid (votos inválidos) that were not cast on official ballot papers that were cast in the wrong electoral district, that did not match the documents of the respective electoral committee or that clearly revealed the identity of the person entitled to vote. These votos inválidos were not taken into account by the electoral court when calculating the voter turnout.

As of August 11, 2019 after counting 99% of all regional ballot papers.

Individual evidence

^ Giammattei sworn in as President of Guatemala. In: ORF.at . January 15, 2020, accessed January 15, 2020 .
↑ ^a ^b Guatemala votes in the shadow of corruption. In: dw.com . June 16, 2019, accessed August 15, 2019.
^ Giammattei wins presidential election in Guatemala. In: spiegel.de . August 12, 2019, accessed August 15, 2019.
↑ ^a ^b Paola Nagovitch: 3 Things to Know ahead of Guatemala's Presidential Runoff. In: as-coa.org . August 7, 2019, accessed on August 15, 2019.
^ ^A ^b Explainer: Guatemala's Presidential Election. In: as-coa.org . June 6, 2019, accessed August 15, 2019.
^ ^A ^b Giammattei wins presidential election in Guatemala. In: orf.at . August 12, 2019, accessed August 12, 2019 .
^ Guatemala election: Former First Lady Sandra Torres wins first round. In: bbc.com . June 18, 2019, accessed on August 21, 2019.
^ Guatemala: runoff between Alejandro Giammattei and Sandra Torres. In: Spiegel Online . August 10, 2019, accessed August 11, 2019 .
↑ Guatemala elects new president. In: orf.at . August 10, 2019, accessed August 10, 2019 .
↑ Election results on the website of the Supreme Electoral Court of Guatemala, accessed August 11, 2019 (Spanish).
↑ Tulio Juárez: Tribunal Supremo Electoral se refiere a los votos nulos, en blanco, válidos e inválidos. In: elperiodico.com.gt . June 15, 2019, accessed August 15, 2019 (Spanish).

[orf3151001-1] Giammattei sworn in as President of Guatemala. In: ORF.at . January 15, 2020, accessed January 15, 2020 .

[dw160619-2] Guatemala votes in the shadow of corruption. In: dw.com . June 16, 2019, accessed August 15, 2019.

[3] Giammattei wins presidential election in Guatemala. In: spiegel.de . August 12, 2019, accessed August 15, 2019.

[as-coa070819-4] Paola Nagovitch: 3 Things to Know ahead of Guatemala's Presidential Runoff. In: as-coa.org . August 7, 2019, accessed on August 15, 2019.

[as-coa060619-5] A ^b Explainer: Guatemala's Presidential Election. In: as-coa.org . June 6, 2019, accessed August 15, 2019.

[orf120819-6] A ^b Giammattei wins presidential election in Guatemala. In: orf.at . August 12, 2019, accessed August 12, 2019 .

[7] Guatemala election: Former First Lady Sandra Torres wins first round. In: bbc.com . June 18, 2019, accessed on August 21, 2019.

[8] Guatemala: runoff between Alejandro Giammattei and Sandra Torres. In: Spiegel Online . August 10, 2019, accessed August 11, 2019 .

[9] Guatemala elects new president. In: orf.at . August 10, 2019, accessed August 10, 2019 .

[10] Election results on the website of the Supreme Electoral Court of Guatemala, accessed August 11, 2019 (Spanish).

[11] Tulio Juárez: Tribunal Supremo Electoral se refiere a los votos nulos, en blanco, válidos e inválidos. In: elperiodico.com.gt . June 15, 2019, accessed August 15, 2019 (Spanish).