Guatemalan general election, 1999
General elections were held in Guatemala on 7 November 1999, with a second round of the presidential elections on 26 December.[1] Alfonso Portillo won the presidential elections, whilst his Guatemalan Republican Front also won the Congressional elections. Voter turnout was 53.8% on 7 November and 40.4% on 26 December.[2]
Media owner Remigio Ángel González gave more than $2.6 million and free airtime to Alfonso Portillo's campaign,[3] which led to some political analysts to claim that the free advertes helped Portillo win the election.[4] After becoming president, Portillo appointed Gonzalez's brother-in-law Luis Rabbe to the post of Minister of Communications, Infrastructure and Housing, a post which included responsibility for overseeing the broadcast media.[4]
Results
President
| Candidate |
Party |
First round |
Second round |
| Votes |
% |
Votes |
% |
| Alfonso Portillo |
Guatemalan Republican Front |
1,045,820 |
47.72 |
1,184,932 |
68.31 |
| Óscar Berger |
National Advancement Party |
664,417 |
30.32 |
549,408 |
31.69 |
| Álvaro Colom |
URNG-DIA |
270,891 |
12.36 |
|
| Acisclo Valladares Molína |
Progressive Liberating Party |
67,924 |
3.10 |
|
| Juan Francisco Bianchi Castillo |
Democratic Renewal Action Party |
45,470 |
2.07 |
|
| Ana Catalina Soberanis Reyes |
Democratic Front New Guatemala |
28,108 |
1.28 |
|
| José Enrique Asturias Rudeke |
LOV-UD |
25,236 |
1.15 |
|
| Danilo Julian Roca Barillas |
National Centre Union |
22,939 |
1.05 |
|
| Carlos Humberto Pérez Rodríguez |
National Liberation Movement |
13,080 |
0.60 |
|
| Emilio Eva Saldívar |
Democratic Action |
4,929 |
0.22 |
|
| Flor de María Alvarado Suárez de Solis |
ARENA |
2,698 |
0.12 |
|
| Invalid/blank votes |
205,700 |
– |
65,588 |
– |
| Total |
2,397,212 |
100 |
1,799,928 |
100 |
| Source: Nohlen |
Congress
| Party |
PR |
District |
Total seats |
| Votes |
% |
Seats |
Votes |
% |
Seats |
| Guatemalan Republican Front |
891,429 |
42.1 |
11 |
879,839 |
41.4 |
52 |
63 |
| National Advancement Party |
570,108 |
26.9 |
7 |
589,550 |
27.7 |
30 |
37 |
| New Nation Alliance |
233,870 |
11.0 |
2 |
231,970 |
10.9 |
7 |
9 |
| Guatemalan Christian Democracy |
86,839 |
4.1 |
1 |
68,609 |
3.2 |
1 |
2 |
| Progressive Liberating Party |
84,187 |
4.0 |
1 |
91,484 |
4.3 |
0 |
1 |
| Democratic Renewal Action Party |
63,824 |
3.0 |
0 |
76,994 |
3.6 |
0 |
0 |
| Democratic Front New Guatemala |
60,821 |
2.9 |
0 |
53,544 |
2.5 |
0 |
0 |
| LOV-UD |
48,184 |
2.3 |
0 |
48,398 |
2.3 |
1 |
1 |
| National Centre Union |
42,921 |
2.0 |
0 |
40,069 |
1.9 |
0 |
0 |
| National Liberation Movement |
22,857 |
1.0 |
0 |
21,656 |
1.0 |
0 |
0 |
| Democratic Action |
8,644 |
0.4 |
0 |
6,074 |
0.3 |
0 |
0 |
| ARENA |
4,178 |
0.2 |
0 |
1,868 |
0.1 |
0 |
0 |
| UCN-DCG |
– |
– |
– |
6,480 |
0.3 |
0 |
0 |
| DCG-FDNG |
– |
– |
– |
5,792 |
0.3 |
0 |
0 |
| National Union |
– |
– |
– |
3,222 |
0.2 |
0 |
0 |
| MLN-DCG |
– |
– |
– |
1,829 |
0.1 |
0 |
0 |
| Invalid/blank votes |
279,011 |
– |
– |
268,249 |
– |
– |
– |
| Total |
2,396,883 |
100 |
22 |
2,395,627 |
100 |
91 |
113 |
| Source: Nohlen |
References
- ^ Nohlen, D (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p323 ISBN 9780199283576
- ^ Nohlen, p324
- ^ Rockwell, Rick and Janus, Noreene (2001), "Stifling Dissent: the fallout from a Mexican media invasion of Central America, Journalism Studies, 2: 4, 497 — 512
- ^ a b Domination of Latin airwaves has 'Ghost' scaring his critics Associated Press, 9 June 2002
Bibliography
- Villagrán Kramer, Francisco. Biografía política de Guatemala: años de guerra y años de paz. FLACSO-Guatemala, 2004.
- Political handbook of the world 1999. New York, 2000.