1999 Guatemalan general election

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]

1999 Guatemalan presidential election
7 November 1999
 
Nominee Alfonso Portillo Óscar Berger
Party FRG PAN
Home state Zacapa Guatemala City
Running mate Juan Francisco Reyes Arabella Castro
States carried 22 0
Popular vote 1,184,932 549,408
Percentage 68.31% 31.69%
President before election

Álvaro Arzú
PAN

 President-elect

Alfonso Portillo
FRG

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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 adverts helped Portillo win the election.[4] After becoming president, Portillo appointed Gonzalez's brother-in-law Luis Rabbé to the post of Minister of Communications, Infrastructure and Housing, a post which included responsibility for overseeing the broadcast media.[4] The presidential election also established a pattern for the next 16 years in which the runner-up of the previous contest then went on to win.

Results

President
Candidate Party First round Second round
Votes % Votes %
Alfonso PortilloGuatemalan Republican Front1,045,82047.721,184,93268.31
Óscar BergerNational Advancement Party664,41730.32549,40831.69
Álvaro ColomURNG-DIA270,89112.36
Acisclo Valladares MolínaProgressive Liberating Party67,9243.10
Juan Francisco Bianchi CastilloDemocratic Renewal Action Party45,4702.07
Ana Catalina Soberanis ReyesDemocratic Front New Guatemala28,1081.28
José Enrique Asturias RudekeLOV-UD25,2361.15
Danilo Julian Roca BarillasNational Centre Union22,9391.05
Carlos Humberto Pérez RodríguezNational Liberation Movement13,0800.60
Emilio Eva SaldívarDemocratic Action4,9290.22
Flor de María Alvarado Suárez de SolisARENA2,6980.12
Invalid/blank votes205,700–65,588–
Total2,397,2121001,799,928100
Source: Nohlen

Congress
Party PR District Total seats
Votes % Seats Votes % Seats
Guatemalan Republican Front891,42942.111879,83941.45263
National Advancement Party570,10826.97589,55027.73037
New Nation Alliance233,87011.02231,97010.979
Guatemalan Christian Democracy86,8394.1168,6093.212
Progressive Liberating Party84,1874.0191,4844.301
Democratic Renewal Action Party63,8243.0076,9943.600
Democratic Front New Guatemala60,8212.9053,5442.500
LOV-UD48,1842.3048,3982.311
National Centre Union42,9212.0040,0691.900
National Liberation Movement22,8571.0021,6561.000
Democratic Action8,6440.406,0740.300
ARENA4,1780.201,8680.100
UCN-DCG–––6,4800.300
DCG-FDNG–––5,7920.300
National Union–––3,2220.200
MLN-DCG–––1,8290.100
Invalid/blank votes279,011––268,249–––
Total2,396,883100222,395,62710091113
Source: Nohlen

References
  1. Nohlen, D (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p323 ISBN 978-0-19-928357-6
  2. Nohlen, p324
  3. Rockwell, Rick and Janus, Noreene (2001), "Stifling Dissent: the fallout from a Mexican media invasion of Central America, Journalism Studies, 2: 4, 497 — 512
  4. 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.
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