General elections were held in
Guatemala on 16 June 2019, to elect the President,
Congress and local councils. A second round of the presidential elections was held on 11 August 2019, since no candidate won a majority in the first round.
Alejandro Giammattei won the election in the second round of voting.
Incumbent President
Jimmy Morales was constitutionally barred from running for a second four-year term.
Electoral system
The
President of Guatemala is elected using the
two-round system
The two-round system (TRS), also known as runoff voting, second ballot, or ballotage, is a voting method used to elect a single candidate, where voters cast a single vote for their preferred candidate. It generally ensures a majoritarian res ...
.
[
The 160 members of Congress are elected by two methods; 130 are elected from 22 multi-member constituencies based on the ]departments
Department may refer to:
* Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility
Government and military
*Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
, with the remaining 31 elected from a single nationwide constituency. Seats are elected using closed list Proportional representation
Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...
, with seats allocated using the D'Hondt method
The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is a method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in party-list proportional representation systems. It belongs to the class of highe ...
.[Congress of the Republic]
IFES
Candidates
Thelma Aldana
Thelma Esperanza Aldana Hernández (; born 27 September 1955) is a Guatemalan jurist and politician, former President of the Supreme Court and former Attorney General.
Life
Aldana was born in Gualán, eastern Guatemala, in 1955. She graduated ...
's candidature was rejected by authorities in April 2019 on the grounds of alleged corruption cases concerning her. She denies the accusations and attributes them to what she calls the "pact of the corrupt", composed of politicians and business leaders of the country. As former Attorney General, she had uncovered several major corruption cases. Aldana appealed the ruling, but the appeal was rejected in May 2019.
The candidature of Zury Ríos, daughter of Guatemalan dictator from 1982 to 1983 Efraín Ríos Montt, was rejected by authorities in May 2019 on the grounds that the country's constitution bars close relatives of coup leaders from serving as president.
In April 2019, centre-right candidate Mario Estrada was arrested. He is accused by the American authorities of having made a deal with the Sinaloa cartel - from which he allegedly obtained between 10 and 12 million dollars for his election campaign - and of having ordered the murder of rival candidates.
Declined candidates
* Manuel Baldizón: deputy of the Congress 2004-2008, secretary-general of Renewed Democratic Liberty 2010-2014, presidential candidate in 2011 and 2015.
*Ernest Steve "Neto" Bran: Mayor of Mixco since 2016.[
* Erik Súñiga: Mayor of Ayutla, San Marcos, 2008-2020.][
* Nineth Montenegro: Deputy of the Congress by National List since 1996, Second Vice President of the Congress 2012-2013, General Secretary of the Encuentro de Guatemala since 2007.
]
Opinion polls
First round
Second round
Debates
Results
President
Congress
Central American Parliament
Municipal
Notes
References
External links
Tribunal Supremo Electoral
{{Guatemalan elections
Presidential elections in Guatemala
Guatemala
General election
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
Elections in Guatemala
June 2019 events in North America
Election and referendum articles with incomplete results