GUATEMALA: Presidential elections
At stake in this election:
•The office of President of Guatemala
Description of government structure:
•Chief of State: President Alvaro COLOM Caballeros
•Head of Government: President Alvaro COLOM Caballeros
•Assembly: Guatemala has a unicameral Congress of the Republic (Congreso de la Republica) with 158 seats.
Description of electoral system:
•The President is elected by absolute majority vote through a two-round system to serve a 4-year term.
•In the Congress of the Republic (Congreso de la Republica) 158 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms.***
*** Of the 158 members, 127 are departmental-level representatives selected through 22 departmental lists; 31 are national-level representatives selected in one, nationwide district. Votes are tabulated using the D'Hondt method.
Main Candidates in the Second Round of the Presidential race:
•Otto Pérez PEREZ Molina
Party: Patriotic Party (PP) / Partido Patriota
•Manuel BALDIZON
Party: Renewed Democratic Liberty Party / Libertad Democrática Renovada (Lider)
Read more on IFES Election Guide
Regardless of the runoff
Regardless of the runoff election result, November’s election will usher in Guatemala’s first-ever female vice president. Pérez Molina’s running mate is Roxana Baldetti, a congresswoman, while former First Lady Raquel Blandón is on Baldizón’s ticket.
Preliminary results following yesterday’s presidential election in Guatemala indicate that no single candidate won over 50 percent of the vote, meaning that a runoff election will be held on November 6. With 92 percent of ballots counted by the Tribunal Supremo Electoral, Otto Pérez Molina, a former army general, obtained 36.16 percent of the vote despite polling as high as 49 percent shortly before the election. Pérez Molina will face the second-place candidate, Manuel Baldizón, an attorney, businessman and congressman, who collected 23.40 percent.
Read more on iKNOW Politics
Regardless of the runoff
Regardless of the runoff election result, November’s election will usher in Guatemala’s first-ever female vice president. Pérez Molina’s running mate is Roxana Baldetti, a congresswoman, while former First Lady Raquel Blandón is on Baldizón’s ticket.
Preliminary results following yesterday’s presidential election in Guatemala indicate that no single candidate won over 50 percent of the vote, meaning that a runoff election will be held on November 6. With 92 percent of ballots counted by the Tribunal Supremo Electoral, Otto Pérez Molina, a former army general, obtained 36.16 percent of the vote despite polling as high as 49 percent shortly before the election. Pérez Molina will face the second-place candidate, Manuel Baldizón, an attorney, businessman and congressman, who collected 23.40 percent.
Read more on iKNOW Politics