Guatemalan general election, 1978

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Guatemalan general election, 1978
Flag of Guatemala.svg
  1974 5 March 1978 1982  

  No image.svg Enrique Peralta Azurdia (cropped).jpg
Nominee Romeo Lucas Enrique Peralta
Party PID-PR-CAO MLN
Home state Alta Verapaz Guatemala City
Running mate Francisco Villagrán Héctor Aragón
Electoral vote34 0
Popular vote262,960 221,223
Percentage40.33% 33.93%

President before election

Kjell Laugerud García
MLN

President-elect

Fernando Romeo Lucas
PID-PR-CAO

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

General elections were held in Guatemala on 5 March 1978. [1] No candidate received more than 50% of the vote in the presidential election, resulting in Fernando Romeo Lucas García being elected president by Congress on 13 March. The Congressional elections were won by the National Liberation Movement.

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.

General Fernando Romeo Lucas García was the 25th President of Guatemala from 1 July 1978 to 23 March 1982. He was elected as Institutional Democratic Party candidate. Elections for his presidency were fraud-ridden. During Lucas García's regime, tensions between the radical left and the government increased. The military started to murder political opponents while counterinsurgency measures further terrorized populations of poor civilians.

Contents

Results

President

CandidatePartyPublic voteCongress vote
Votes%Votes%
Fernando Romeo Lucas García PID-PR-CAO 262,96040.3334100
Enrique Peralta Azurdia National Liberation Movement 221,22333.9300
Ricardo Peralta Méndez DCG-PRA167,89025.75--
Invalid/blank votes--
Total652,07310061100
Source: Nohlen

Congress

PartyVotes%Seats+/-
National Liberation Movement 20+4
Institutional Democratic Party 17+3
Revolutionary Party 14+4
Guatemalan Christian Democracy 7-
Central Aranista Organization 3-3
Invalid/blank votes---
Total61+1

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References

  1. Nohlen, D (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p323 ISBN   978-0-19-928357-6

Bibliography