2011 Guatemalan general election
Presidential election
11 September 2011 (first round)
6 November 2011 (second round)
 
Nominee Otto Pérez Molina Manuel Baldizón
Party PP LIDER
Running mate Roxana Baldetti Raquel Blandón
Popular vote 2,300,979 1,981,003
Percentage 53.74% 46.26%
President before election

Álvaro Colom
UNE

 President-elect

Otto Pérez Molina
PP

General elections were held in Guatemala on 11 September 2011 in order to elect the president, vice president, members of Congress, members of the Central American Parliament and mayors and councillors for all municipalities. The Patriotic Party emerged as the largest party in Congress, winning 56 of the 158 seats.

As no candidate received more than 50% of the vote, a second round of the presidential election was held on 6 November with Otto Pérez Molina of the PP facing Manuel Baldizón of Renewed Democratic Liberty. Pérez was elected with 53.7% of the vote.

Campaign

Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity and other leftist groups ran under the Broad Front of the Left banner, nominating Rigoberta Menchú as their presidential candidate.

Guatemala's high crime rate was a major issue in the campaign as it sits near the Mexican border that is a conduit for drug trafficking.

Baldizon campaigned on the premise of having Guatemala's football team to the World Cup. He also promised to tackle poverty and crime, as well as assure workers an extra month's salary every year. He also said he would reinstate the death penalty and televise executions.

Opinion polls

Polls showed Pérez Molina with a lead over other possible candidates.[1]

A poll for the second round showed Pérez Molina with 49.4% to Baldizón's 39.2%; 11% were undecided.[2] A second poll gave Pérez Molina 39.7% to Baldizón's 32.2%, with 28% undecided.[3] A third poll gave Pérez Molina the lead with 45.7% to Baldizón's 37.2% and 17.1% undecided.[4] A final poll had Pérez Molina ahead with 54.6%, Baldizón at 38.7% and undecided at 5.7%.[5]

Former Foreign Minister Edgar Gutierrez said that "the polling methods are inadequate. They've failed to capture how between 25 and 30 per cent of the people intend to vote."

Conduct

Amongst the observers for the election were Oscar Almengor, who led a team University of San Carlos.[6]

According to Article 186(c) of the Constitution, the relatives of the president cannot participate in the presidential election when the relative holds the presidency. Sandra Torres, former wife of the current president, got divorced to run for the presidency. There were several requests to have a warrant to forbid Sandra Torres from participating in the election. On 9 August 2011, the Constitutional Court upheld a sentence of the Supreme Court preventing Torres from running.

Results

President

On 6 November, Molina declared victory in the election saying that: "For all the Guatemalans who have put their trust in me, I thank you very much. To those Guatemalans who did not vote for Otto Perez, I make a call to unite and to work together in the next four years, leaving aside party colours." Turnout for the runoff was half that of the first round in some regions.[6]

CandidateRunning matePartyFirst roundSecond round
Votes%Votes%
Otto Pérez MolinaRoxana BaldettiPatriotic Party1,604,47236.022,300,99853.74
Manuel BaldizónRaquel BlandónRenewed Democratic Liberty1,016,34022.821,981,04846.26
Eduardo SugerLaura ReyesCommitment, Renewal and Order737,45216.56
Mario EstradaMauricio UrruelaNational Change Union387,0018.69
Harold CaballerosEfraín MedinaVision with Values–Encuentro por Guatemala277,3656.23
Rigoberta MenchúAníbal GarcíaBroad Front of the Left (Winaq–URNG–MAIZ–ANN)145,0803.26
Juan GutiérrezCarlos ZúñigaNational Advancement Party122,8002.76
Patricia EscobarÁlvaro RodasUnionist Party97,4982.19
Alejandro GiammatteiOscar ZamoraSocial Action Centre46,8751.05
Adela de TorrebiarteJosé de LeónNational Development Action19,0490.43
Total4,453,932100.004,282,046100.00
Valid votes4,453,93288.114,282,04696.19
Invalid/blank votes601,25111.89169,4403.81
Total votes5,055,183100.004,451,486100.00
Registered voters/turnout7,340,84168.867,340,84160.64
Source: TSE

Congress

Of 158 congressmen to be elected, 126 congressmen sought re-election but only 56 were re-elected and 102 new congressmen were elected for the first time since democratic election took root in Guatemala. About 65% of MPs were first time representatives, which was the first time this occurred since the 1995 election.

PartyNationalDistrictTotal
seats		+/–
Votes%SeatsVotes%Seats
Patriotic Party1,165,22126.5791,176,89926.624857+27
National Unity of Hope–Grand National Alliance985,61022.478801,83918.143139–
National Change Union418,1759.543399,4409.031114+10
Renewed Democratic Liberty387,3788.833416,8809.431114New
Commitment, Renewal and Order382,7308.733409,0509.25912New
Vision with Values–Encuentro por Guatemala345,7097.882244,6545.5346+2
Broad Front of the Left (Winaq–URNG-MAIZ–ANN)143,2383.27150,3071.1401–
National Advancement Party136,2473.111148,2403.3512–2
Guatemalan Republican Front120,1052.741112,6042.5501–14
Unionist Party118,3092.700138,8793.1411–7
Victory71,5881.63076,0261.7211New
Social Action Centre48,5171.11056,6231.2800–5
National Development Action39,1600.89043,3390.9800New
National Convergence Front23,4700.54011,5760.2600New
National Unity of Hope201,5564.5699–
Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity38,4580.8711–
Grand National Alliance37,7500.8500–
URNG-MAIZ–ANN23,6310.5300–
Vision with Values13,2100.3000–
Winaq–ANN7,5240.1700–
URNG-MAIZ–ANN6,4930.1500–
Winaq4,3240.1000–
Mi Pais2,0430.0500New
Total4,385,457100.00314,421,345100.001271580
Valid votes4,385,45786.594,421,34587.42
Invalid/blank votes678,91213.41636,44512.58
Total votes5,064,369100.005,057,790100.00
Registered voters/turnout7,340,84168.997,340,84168.90
Source: TSE, Election Passport

References

  1. ↑ "Guatemala votes for new president". English.Aljazeera.net. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  2. ↑ "2nd Round Poll Numbers - Update". centralamericanpolitics.Blogspot.com. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  3. ↑ "2nd Poll has Perez Molina in Lead". centralamericanpolitics.Blogspot.com. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  4. ↑ "Three for Three". centralamericanpolitics.Blogspot.com. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  5. ↑ "Weekend Elections". centralamericanpolitics.Blogspot.com. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  6. 1 2 "Ex-general wins Guatemala presidential vote". English.Aljazeera.net. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.