Guatemalan presidential election, 1898

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Guatemalan presidential election, 1898
Flag of Guatemala.svg
  1892 September 1898 1904  

  InterinoWstradaCabrera1898.jpeg Joseleoncastillo1897.jpg
Nominee Manuel Estrada Cabrera José León Castillo
Party Liberal Liberal
Home state Quetzaltenango Guatemala
Popular vote 312,797 672
Percentage 99.79% 0.21%

President before election

Manuel Estrada Cabrera
Liberal

President-elect

Manuel Estrada Cabrera
Liberal

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

Presidential elections were held in Guatemala during seven days in September 1898. [1] 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. [2]

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.

Manuel Estrada Cabrera Guatemalan President

Manuel José Estrada Cabrera was President of Guatemala from 1898 to 1920. He was a lawyer with no military background and as President, he was a strong ruler, who modernised the country’s industry and transport, but only by granting concessions to the American-owned United Fruit Company, whose influence on the government was felt by many to be excessive. Estrada Cabrera used increasingly brutal methods to assert his authority, including armed strike-breaking, and the general elections were effectively controlled by him. He retained power for 22 years through controlled elections in 1904, 1910, and 1916, and was eventually removed from office when the national assembly declared him mentally incompetent, and he was jailed for corruption.

Liberal Party (Guatemala)

The Liberal Party was a political party in Guatemala.

Contents

The elections were regarded as fraudulent; constitutional guarantees had been suspended for a month and opposition candidate José León Castillo had been unable to campaign. Estrada was declared the winner with 99.8% of the vote, [3] although the number of votes cast is estimated to have been at least three times the number of people eligible to vote at the time. [4] Legislative Assembly Decree 413 of 26 September declared that Estrada's term of office would begin on 15 March 1899, but he assumed the presidency on 2 October. [3]

Results

CandidatePartyVotes%
Manuel Estrada Cabrera Liberal Party 312,79799.79
José León Castillo Liberal Party 6720.21
Invalid/blank votes
Total313,469100
Source: Luján Muñoz

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References

  1. Jorge Luján Muñoz (2003) Las revoluciones de 1897, la muerte de J.M. Reina Barrios y la elección de M. Estrada Cabrera, Guatemala: Artemis Edinter, p63
  2. Robert H Holden (2004) Armies without nations: public violence and state formation in Central America, 1821-1960, New York: Oxford University Press, p54
  3. 1 2 Luján Muñoz, p64
  4. Luján Muñoz, pp70–71

Bibliography