2007 Guatemalan general election

A general election was held in Guatemala in two rounds on 9 September and 4 November 2007. Voters went to the polls to elect a new President and Vice President of the Republic, 158 congressional deputies, and 332 mayors.

Results[]

A total of fifteen parties contested the election, though one of them (the Front for Democracy) did not field a candidate for the presidential election.

Presidential election[]

Around 60% of the voting public participated in the 9 September first-round vote. However, no candidate secured more than 50% of the vote, and so a run-off election was held between Álvaro Colom of the National Unity of Hope (UNE) and former Army General Otto Pérez Molina of the Patriotic Party (PP) on 4 November 2007.^[1]^[2]

The ruling Grand National Alliance (GANA), after placing third in the first-round vote, declined to endorse either Colom or Pérez Molina for the second round.^[3]

With 97.23% of the vote counted in the second round, Colom was declared the winner with just over 52 percent.

Congressional election[]

The National Unity of Hope (UNE) made huge gains in the election, receiving 27.08%, nearly 10 percentage points more than November 2003. The Patriotic Party (PP), which ran independent of the Grand National Alliance (GANA), received 24.97% of the vote. GANA itself received 18.28% of the vote.^[4]

Presidential and vice-presidential candidates[]

A full list appears on the Electoral Court's website^{[permanent dead link]}.

(VP: ) for the National Advancement Party (PAN)
(VP: ) for Guatemalan Christian Democracy (DCG). Cerezo Blandón is the son of Vinicio Cerezo Arévalo, who served as president from 1986 to 1991.
Álvaro Colom (VP: José Rafael Espada) for the National Unity of Hope (UNE). Colom was the runner-up in the 2003 presidential election.
(VP: ) for the Democratic Union (UD)
(VP: ) for the Nationalist Change Union (UCN).
(VP: ) for the Unionist Party (PU).
Alejandro Giammattei (VP: ) for the Grand National Alliance (GANA). Giammattei served as director of the national prison service under GANA president Óscar Berger.
(VP: ) for the New Nation Alliance (ANN).
Rigoberta Menchú (VP: ) for the Encounter for Guatemala (EG) party. Menchú is a K'iche' Maya and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Press reports in late August reported that she had withdrawn from the race because of financial constraints and low levels of support;^[5] these reports were false.^[6]
Otto Pérez Molina (VP: ) for the Patriotic Party. Pérez Molina is a retired army general who was active in the Civil War.
Luis Rabbé (VP: ) for the Guatemalan Republican Front (FRG)
(VP: ) for Authentic Integral Development (DIA).
(VP: ) for Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity–MAIZE (URNG–MAIZ).
Eduardo Suger (VP: ) for the Social Action Centre (CASA).

Presidential and vice-presidential candidates[]

National Unity of Hope
Álvaro Colom	Rafael Espada
for President	for Vice President

General Secretary of National Unity of Hope (2003–2007)	Founder of the Cardiovascular Surgery Unit of Guatemala (1994)

Patriotic Party
Otto Pérez Molina	Alejandro Castillo Sinibaldi
for President	for Vice President

General Secretary of Patriotic Party (2002- ) Deputy of the Congress (2004- )	President of IRTRA (1962- )

Polls[]

**Voting intention (%)**
Poll by	Date	Colom	Pérez	Giammattei	Menchú	Suger	Undecided
Siglo XXI [1]	Nov. 2007	47.4	52.6	-	-	-	-
BGC [2]	Nov. 2007	48.0	52.0	-	-	-	-
Prensa Libre [3]	Nov. 2007	47.0	53.0	-	-	-	-
El Periódico [4]	Nov. 2007	39.4	35.1	-	-	-	25.5
El Periódico [5]	Oct. 2007	37.3	39.8	-	-	-	22.9
Siglo XXI [6]	Oct. 2007	46.2	53.8	-	-	-	-
Prensa Libre [7]	Oct. 2007	45.6	54.4	-	-	-	-
Prensa Latina [8]	September 2007	34.7	26.8	13.3
Siglo XXI [9]	September 2007	41.4	39.3	9.5	5
Prensa Libre [10]	September 2007	31.7	31.8	14.6	3.1	4.5	27.6
El Periódico [11]	Aug. 2007	30.7	27.7	10.5	5.7	1.7	16.7
Prensa Libre [12]	Aug. 2007	22	17.5	7.67	2.42	3.17	28.83
El Periódico [13]	Jul. 2007	33	23.1	8.9	5.5		18.5
Prensa Libre[14]	Jul. 2007	21.33	14.42	8.17	2.42	2.5	37.92
El Periódico [15]	Jun. 2007	28	13.2	5.8	6.7		33.4
Prensa Libre [16]	Jun. 2007	20.75	12.25	8.17	1.5	1
El Periódico [17]	May 2007	25.9	15.3	5.6	6.2		36
Prensa Libre [18]	May 2007	20.6	11.4	7.1	2.9	1.5
El Periódico [19]	Apr. 2007	28.6	10.4	6.3	5.6		42.3
Prensa Libre [20]	Apr. 2007	26.5	10	9.6	2.75	1.25
El Periódico [21]	Jan. 2007	34.6	15.9	0.2	1.4		29.8
Prensa Libre [22]	Jan. 2007	21.23	10.52	7.54	2.18	0.60

Results[]

President[]


Candidate		Running mate	Party	First round		Second round
Candidate		Running mate	Party	Votes	%	Votes	%
	Álvaro Colom	Rafael Espada	National Unity of Hope	926,236	28.25	1,449,533	52.81
	Otto Pérez Molina	Ricardo Castillo Sinibaldi	Patriotic Party	771,813	23.54	1,295,108	47.19
	Alejandro Giammattei	Alfredo Vila Girón	Grand National Alliance	565,017	17.23
	Eduardo Suger	Erwin Lobos Ríos	Social Action Centre	244,373	7.45
	Luis Rabbé	Haroldo Quej Chen	Guatemalan Republican Front	239,204	7.30
	Mario Estrada	Mario Torres Marroquín	National Change Union	103,695	3.16
	Rigoberta Menchú	Luis Fernando Montenegro	Encuentro por Guatemala	100,365	3.06
	Fritz García Gallont	Enrique Godoy García Granados	Unionist Party	95,280	2.91
	Óscar Castañeda	Roger Valenzuela	National Advancement Party	83,369	2.54
	Miguel Ángel Sandoval	Walda Barrios Ruiz	Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity	70,208	2.14
	Manuel Conde Orellana	Juan Francisco Manrique	Democratic Union	24,893	0.76
	Pablo Monsanto	Mariano Portillo Lemus	New Nation Alliance	19,640	0.60
	Héctor Rosales	Carlos Pérez Rodríguez	Authentic Integral Development	18,395	0.56
	Vinicio Cerezo Blandón	Pablo Ramírez Rivas	Guatemalan Christian Democracy	16,461	0.50
Total				3,278,949	100.00	2,744,641	100.00

Valid votes				3,278,949	90.68	2,744,641	95.06
Invalid/blank votes				336,918	9.32	142,565	4.94
Total votes				3,615,867	100.00	2,887,206	100.00
Registered voters/turnout				5,990,029	60.36	5,990,029	48.20
Source: TSE, TSE

Congress[]


Party		National			District			Total seats	+/–
Party		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Total seats	+/–
	National Unity of Hope	720,285	22.84	8	705,300	22.17	44	52	+20
	Grand National Alliance	521,600	16.54	6	552,976	17.38	31	37	–10
	Patriotic Party	493,791	15.66	6	516,287	16.23	23	29	New
	Guatemalan Republican Front	306,166	9.71	3	304,255	9.56	11	14	–29
	Encuentro por Guatemala	194,809	6.18	2	135,934	4.27	2	4	New
	Unionist Party	192,295	6.10	2	210,750	6.63	4	6	–1
	Social Action Centre	154,001	4.88	1	148,353	4.66	4	5	New
	National Advancement Party	143,268	4.54	1	164,743	5.18	2	3	–14
	National Change Union	128,109	4.06	1	144,747	4.55	4	5	New
	Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity	112,249	3.56	1	100,179	3.15	1	2	0
	Authentic Integral Development	45,082	1.43	0	47,952	1.51	0	0	–1
	Democratic Union	44,359	1.41	0	47,418	1.49	1	1	–1
	New Nation Alternative	43,148	1.37	0	46,248	1.45	0	0	–6
	Front for Democracy	28,604	0.91	0	25,784	0.81	0	0	New
	Guatemalan Christian Democracy	25,450	0.81	0	21,192	0.67	0	0	–1
	Bienestar Nacional				8,921	0.28	0	0	New
Total		3,153,216	100.00	31	3,181,039	100.00	127	158	0

Valid votes		3,153,216	87.45		3,181,039	88.03
Invalid/blank votes		452,503	12.55		432,380	11.97
Total votes		3,605,719	100.00		3,613,419	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		5,990,029	60.20		5,990,029	60.32
Source: TSE, IFES

References[]

^ Colom Far Ahead of Rivals in Guatemala Archived 6 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine Angus Reid Global Monitor, 13 February 2007
^ Guatemala heads for run-off vote BBC News, 10 September 2007
^ GANA Party Stays Neutral Prensa Latina, 13 September 2007
^ UNE se coloca arriba PP baja Archived 14 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine Elecciones Guatemala, 10 September 2007 (in Spanish)
^ Guatemala Nobel Prize winner Menchu halts presidential campaign People's Daily, 27 August 2007
^ Menchú NO ha cerrado campaña por falta de recursos

External links[]

Elecciones Guatemala (in Spanish)

[1] Colom Far Ahead of Rivals in Guatemala Archived 6 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine Angus Reid Global Monitor, 13 February 2007

[2] Guatemala heads for run-off vote BBC News, 10 September 2007

[3] GANA Party Stays Neutral Prensa Latina, 13 September 2007

[4] UNE se coloca arriba PP baja Archived 14 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine Elecciones Guatemala, 10 September 2007 (in Spanish)

[5] Guatemala Nobel Prize winner Menchu halts presidential campaign People's Daily, 27 August 2007

[6] Menchú NO ha cerrado campaña por falta de recursos

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