Guatemala Election 2019

June 18, 2019

Guatemalan presidential election

I thought I would share an article about the presidential primary election that took place in Guatemala this past Sunday. 19 candidates were on the national ballet. The two candidates who received the most votes will square off in the final election on August 11th. I think you will find this interesting background to the political climate in Guatemala. Voter fraud and corruption are frequently the subject of conversation. 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-48621524

The lead candidate is former first lady Sandra Torres. Ms Torres says she will provide "comprehensive solutions like development, fight against poverty and job opportunities" to try to convince Guatemalans to stay in the country rather than migrating to the United States.

The other candidate is Alejandro Giammattei. He is a trained doctor who was named director of the Guatemalan prison system in 2006. He says that if he is elected, he will build "a wall of prosperity" to keep Guatemalans from migrating to the US. 

Both candidates are talking about addressing the mass migration from Guatemala to the United States. AP News reported that “an estimated 1% of Guatemala’s population of 16 million people has left the country this year!” That would be 160,000 people. That seems hard to believe, but none the less a major issue facing the candidates. Of course the politicians have an eye toward the north as the US has threatened cutting aid if the problem is not addressed – perhaps an added incentive.

June 20, 2019

Guatemala to hold vote recount over fraud allegations

Even before the polls closed there was talk of voter fraud taking place. I read various post on social media of instances that were getting people riled up. Some ballots were marked ahead of time. Some voters needing language assistance and unable to read or write were having the wrong candidate checked. I heard that in one rural community they discovered six boxes of uncounted ballets “stashed” up on the roof of the voting house. Prior to the election, a CID Gallup Poll found that nearly one third of Guatemala adults surveyed believed the election would be plagued by fraud.

So - Guatemala will perform another manual count starting on Monday (June 24^th). Stay tuned.

The people would like to see a crackdown on corruption amongst the politicians. And it is no wonder, with 3 of the last 4 presidents having been arrested and jailed post presidency on corruption charges.

I had a conversation with a local Guatemalan businessman about the US cutting aid to Guatemala. He smiled and said “most people in my country really don’t care about that aid. The people never see the money because it is in the pockets of the politicians. That money would be much more effective in the hands of the non-profit organizations who are actually helping the people.”