Guatemala 2007

[Tender Branson]

So the incumbent isn't running for reelection? Is he barred from a second term or did he just decide not to?

And what would be the ideological descriptions of Colom and Perez?

The President of Guatemala is limited to 1 term.

Colom is a Social Democrat (Leftist) according to my understanding who also ran against the incumbent President Oscar Berger in 2003, but lost.

Perez is a Rightist and former Military General who´s "advocating a hard-line approach to rising criminality in the country." He also represented the military in the 1996 peace negotiations of the bloody 30-year long civil-war, which finally led to a peace agreement.

[Tender Branson]

Just found the official election returns page, and its actually a very good one:

http://elecciones2007.tse.org.gt/resultados/

(click on "Ver Resultados Electorales" at the bottom)

75.60% of the 13.756 precincts are already counted and the leaders are:

* Colom (UNE): 28.0%
* Perez (PP): 24.6%

Results per departement are also available ...

[Tender Branson]

Álvaro Colom could emerge victorious in this Sunday’s presidential run-off in Guatemala, according to a poll by Ulises Beltrán y Asociados. 52 per cent of decided voters in the Central American nation would vote for the left-leaning National Union of Hope (UNE) candidate, while 48 per cent would back Otto Pérez Molina of the right-leaning Patriot Party (PP).

The first round of the presidential election in the Central American country took place on Sept. 9. Final results gave Colom 28.23 per cent of the vote, followed by Pérez Molina with 23.51 per cent. Since no candidate garnered more than 50 per cent of all cast ballots, a run-off was scheduled for Nov. 4.

Grand National Alliance (GANA) candidate Óscar Berger won the 2003 presidential election in a run-off, defeating Colom with 54.13 per cent of all cast ballots. Berger is constitutionally barred from seeking a new term in office.

This year’s election has been marked by episodes of political violence. At least 59 people have been killed while campaigning for last month’s presidential and legislative ballot, and this Sunday’s run-off.

On Oct. 31, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Rigoberta Menchú of Encounter for Guatemala (EPG)—who finished seventh in the first round with 3.09 per cent of the vote—denounced the electoral process, saying, "The election cannot be legitimate, because there are not just doubts, but proof (of fraud). (...) It is incredible, but there are places in which the number of names in the electoral roll is larger than the total population."

http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/view/28836/guatemala_2007_colom_52_prez_molina_48/

[Tender Branson]

Centre-leftist wins Guatemalan presidency

A businessman who wants to create jobs in desperately poor and violence-wracked Guatemala won the presidential runoff vote on Sunday.

Otto Perez Molina, a retired general running for the rightist Patriotic Party, conceded to Alvaro Colom of the centre-left National Unity of Hope Party. Colom had nearly 53 per cent of the vote to Perez's 47 per cent, with 97 per cent of the polls reporting.

"We are going to be a constructive opposition," said Perez.

Neither contender had taken more than half the vote in the September election, so a runoff was necessary.

Violence was a key issue, because Guatemala has more the 5,000 homicides a year, among a population of 12.7 million. More than 50 people were killed during the campaign, including candidates.

But with half the population living on less than $2 a day, poverty is also a huge concern.

Colom suggested poverty caused violence, and said he would clean up corrupt judges and police. Perez had promised to bring in the death penalty, hire more police and use soldiers to fight crime.

The polls were heavily guarded, with more than 30,000 police and soldiers standing by. About 20,000 observers monitored the vote.

Guatemala is still split by the 36-year civil war which saw leftist rebels fighting the military. When it ended in 1996, hundreds of thousands of people had been killed, many in massacres lead by the army.

Sunday's vote "is a 'no' to Guatemala's tragic history," Reuters reported Colom as saying.

http://resultados2007.tse.org.gt

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/11/04/guatemala-vote.html