1999 Guatemalan general election

1999 Guatemalan general election

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Presidential election
7 November 1999 (first round) 26 December 1999 (second round)
Turnout	53.76% (first round) 6.96pp 40.37% (second round) 3.49pp
Nominee Alfonso Portillo Óscar Berger Party FRG PAN Running mate Juan Francisco Reyes Arabella Castro Popular vote 1,184,932 549,408 Percentage 68.32% 31.68%
President before election Álvaro Arzú PAN President-elect Alfonso Portillo FRG

General elections were held in Guatemala on 7 November 1999, with a second round of the presidential elections on 26 December. ^[1] Alfonso Portillo won the presidential elections, whilst his Guatemalan Republican Front also won the Congressional elections. Voter turnout was 53.8% on 7 November and 40.4% on 26 December. ^[2]

Media owner Remigio Ángel González gave more than $2.6 million and free airtime to Alfonso Portillo's campaign, ^[3] which led to some political analysts to claim that the free adverts helped Portillo win the election. ^[4] After becoming president, Portillo appointed Gonzalez's brother-in-law Luis Rabbé to the post of Minister of Communications, Infrastructure and Housing, a post which included responsibility for overseeing the broadcast media. ^[4] The presidential election also established a pattern for the next 16 years in which the runner-up of the previous contest then went on to win.

Results

President

Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Alfonso Portillo	Guatemalan Republican Front	1,045,820	47.72	1,184,932	68.32
	Óscar Berger	National Advancement Party	664,417	30.32	549,408	31.68
	Álvaro Colom	URNG–DIA	270,891	12.36
	Acisclo Valladares Molína	Progressive Liberating Party	67,924	3.10
	Juan Francisco Bianchi Castillo	Democratic Renewal Action Party	45,470	2.07
	Ana Catalina Soberanis Reyes	Democratic Front New Guatemala	28,108	1.28
	José Enrique Asturias Rudeke	LOV–UD	25,236	1.15
	Danilo Julián Roca Barillas	National Centre Union	22,939	1.05
	Carlos Humberto Pérez Rodríguez	National Liberation Movement	13,080	0.60
	Emilio Eva Saldívar	Democratic Alliance	4,929	0.22
	Flor de María Alvarado Suárez de Solís	National Reconciling Alliance	2,698	0.12
Total			2,191,512	100.00	1,734,340	100.00
Valid votes			2,191,512	91.42	1,734,340	96.36
Invalid/blank votes			205,700	8.58	65,588	3.64
Total votes			2,397,212	100.00	1,799,928	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			4,458,744	53.76	4,458,744	40.37
Source: Nohlen

Congress

Party		National			District			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Guatemalan Republican Front	891,429	42.09	11	879,839	41.36	52	63
	National Advancement Party	570,108	26.92	7	589,550	27.71	30	37
	New Nation Alliance (URNG–DIA)	233,870	11.04	2	231,970	10.90	7	9
	Guatemalan Christian Democracy	86,839	4.10	1	68,609	3.23	1	2
	Progressive Liberating Party	84,197	3.98	1	91,484	4.30	0	1
	Democratic Renewal Action Party	63,824	3.01	0	76,994	3.62	0	0
	Democratic Front New Guatemala	60,821	2.87	0	53,544	2.52	0	0
	LOV–UD	48,184	2.28	0	48,398	2.28	1	1
	National Centre Union	42,921	2.03	0	40,069	1.88	0	0
	National Liberation Movement	22,857	1.08	0	21,656	1.02	0	0
	Democratic Action	8,644	0.41	0	6,074	0.29	0	0
	National Reconciliation Alliance	4,178	0.20	0	1,868	0.09	0	0
	UCN–DCG				6,480	0.30	0	0
	DCG–FDNG				5,792	0.27	0	0
	National Union				3,222	0.15	0	0
	MLN–DCG				1,829	0.09	0	0
Total		2,117,872	100.00	22	2,127,378	100.00	91	113
Valid votes		2,117,872	88.36		2,127,378	88.80
Invalid/blank votes		279,011	11.64		268,249	11.20
Total votes		2,396,883	100.00		2,395,627	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		4,458,744	53.76		4,458,744	53.73
Source: Nohlen, Lehoucq

References

1. Dieter Nohlen (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p323 ISBN   978-0-19-928357-6
2. Nohlen, p324
3. Rockwell, Rick and Janus, Noreene (2001), "Stifling Dissent: the fallout from a Mexican media invasion of Central America, Journalism Studies, 2: 4, 497 — 512
4. Domination of Latin airwaves has 'Ghost' scaring his critics Associated Press, 9 June 2002

Bibliography

• Villagrán Kramer, Francisco. Biografía política de Guatemala: años de guerra y años de paz. FLACSO-Guatemala, 2004.
• Political handbook of the world 1999. New York, 2000.