Guatemalan general election, 1954

Last updated
Coat of arms of Guatemala.svg
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Guatemala
Judiciary

Constituent Assembly elections were held alongside a plebiscite on the presidency of Carlos Castillo Armas in Guatemala on 10 October 1954. A reported 99.92% of voters voted in favour of Armas' presidency, whilst the National Anti-Communist Front won 57 of the 65 seats in the Assembly.

Carlos Castillo Armas Guatemalan President

Carlos Castillo Armas was a Guatemalan military officer and politician. After taking power in a coup d'état, he served as the President of Guatemala from 1954 to 1957. A member of the right-wing National Liberation Movement (MLN) party, his authoritarian government was closely allied to the United States.

Guatemala republic in Central America

Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, Belize and the Caribbean to the northeast, Honduras to the east, El Salvador to the southeast and the Pacific Ocean to the south. With an estimated population of around 16.6 million, it is the most populated country in Central America. Guatemala is a representative democracy; its capital and largest city is Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción, also known as Guatemala City.

The National Anti-Communist Front was a coalition of the anti-communist parties and groups that supported Carlos Castillo Armas. Its program envisioned economic and social reforms for the development of Guatemala and the elimination of communist infiltration. Its members included the Anti-Communist Unification Party (PUA), Independent Anti-Communist Party of the West (PIACO), Anti-Communist University Students Committee (CEUA), Comités como el Cívico Independiente, Obrero Anticomunista, Femenino Anticomunista, de Locatarias, Asociación Juvenil Anticomunista, among others. In 1955, most member organizations were involved in the establishment of the National Democratic Movement (MDN).

Contents

Results

Plebiscite

ChoiceVotes%
For485,69999.92
Against4000.08
Invalid/blank votes-
Total486,099100
Source: Holden

Constituent Assembly

Parties and alliancesVotes%Seats
National Anti-Communist Front 57
Anti-Communist University Students Committee 2
ACCA2
Independent Anti-Communist Party of the West 2
Independents2
Invalid/blank votes--
Total-
Source: Ebel

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

Elfego Hernán Monzón Aguirre was a Guatemalan army officer who was President of Guatemala and leader of a military junta from 29 June 1954 to 8 July 1954, during the 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état.

1984 Guatemalan Constitutional Assembly election

Constitutional Assembly elections were held in Guatemala on 1 July 1984. Although the National Centre Union received the most votes, an alliance of the National Liberation Movement and Nationalist Authentic Centre emerged as the largest bloc with 23 of the 88 seats. Voter turnout was 78%.

1964 Guatemalan Constitutional Assembly election

Constitutional Assembly elections were held on 24 May 1964. The Movement of National Liberation and the Revolutionary Party both won 10 seats, although sixty members were appointed by the military government.

1955 Guatemalan parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Guatemala on 18 December 1955. The result was a victory for the National Democratic Movement, which won 58 of the 66 seats in Congress.

1953 Guatemalan parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Guatemala for half the seats in Congress between 16 and 18 January 1953. The Revolutionary Action Party won a plurality of seats.

1950 Guatemalan parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Guatemala for half the seats in Congress on 16 December 1950. The Revolutionary Action Party won a plurality of seats.

1950 Guatemalan presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Guatemala between 10 and 12 November 1950. The result was a victory for Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán, who received 65.44% of the vote. Voter turnout was 71.62%.

1948 Guatemalan parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Guatemala between 26 and 28 November 1948 in order to elect half the seats in Congress. The National Renovation Party-Revolutionary Action Party alliance won the most seats, but the Popular Liberation Front remained the largest party.

1947 Guatemalan parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Guatemala between 24 and 26 January 1947 in order to elect half the seats in Congress. The Revolutionary Action Party won a plurality of seats.

Legislative elections were held in Guatemala to elect members of the Congress on 3–5 November 1944.

A presidential election was held in Guatemala on 17–19 December 1944. The October Revolution of 1944 had overthrown Jorge Ubico, the U.S. backed dictator of Guatemala. A junta composed of Francisco Javier Arana, Jacobo Árbenz and Jorge Toriello took power, and quickly announced presidential elections, as well as elections for a constituent assembly. The subsequent elections took place in December 1944, and were broadly considered free and fair, although only literate men were given the vote. Unlike in similar historical situations, none of the junta members stood for election. The front-runner was the philosophically conservative University professor Juan José Arévalo, of the Renovación Nacional. Arévalo's closest challenger was Adrián Recinos, whose campaign included a number of individuals identified with the Ubico regime. The ballots were tallied on 19 December 1944, and Arévalo won in a landslide, receiving more than four times as many ballots as the other candidates combined.

1944 Guatemalan presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Guatemala between 17 and 19 December 1944. The result was a victory for Juan José Arévalo, who received 86.25% of the vote.

Jorge Ubico y Castañeda’s presidential term was extended to 15 March 1949 by a Constituent Assembly on 11 September 1941. Assumed office 15 March 1943.

1898 Guatemalan presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Guatemala during seven days in September 1898. Prior to the elections Manuel Estrada Cabrera had established the first real political party in the country's history by admitting people from outside the influential liberals to the Liberal Party.

1904 Guatemalan presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Guatemala in July 1904. The result was a victory for Manuel Estrada Cabrera, who received all but three of the national votes. He assumed the presidency on 15 March 1905.

1910 Guatemalan presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Guatemala on 11 April 1910. Manuel Estrada Cabrera was re-elected unopposed. He assumed the presidency on 15 March 1911.

1916 Guatemalan presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Guatemala on 17 January 1916. For the second successive election, Manuel Estrada Cabrera was re-elected unopposed. Despite there only being one candidate, voters were rounded up by the military and taken to polling stations, where they could only vote for Cabrera. Cabrera assumed the presidency on 15 March 1911.

1873 Guatemalan general election

Presidential elections were held in Guatemala in November 1873. Justo Rufino Barrios wins the presidency.

1880 Guatemalan general election

Presidential elections were held in Guatemala in November 1880.