2019 Guatemalan general election

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.

2019 Guatemalan general election

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Opinion polls
Presidential election
16 June 2019 (first round) 11 August 2019 (second round)
Turnout	61.84% (first round) 7.90pp 42.66% (second round) 13.49pp
Nominee Alejandro Giammattei Sandra Torres Party Vamos UNE Running mate Guillermo Castillo Carlos Raúl Morales Popular vote 1,907,767 1,384,044 Percentage 57.95% 42.05%
First round results by municipality First round results by department Second round results by municipality Second round results by department
President before election Jimmy Morales FCN Elected President Alejandro Giammattei Vamos
Legislative election
All 160 seats in Congress 81 seats needed for a majority
Party Leader Vote % Seats +/– UNE Orlando Blanco 17.81 52 +24 Vamos Carlos Roberto Calderón 7.97 17 New UCN Julio Lainfiesta 5.44 12 +6 Valor Luis Alfonso Rosales 4.56 9 New BIEN Evelyn Morataya 4.82 8 +8 FCN Javier Hernández 5.22 8 −27 Semilla Lucrecia Hernández Mack 5.26 7 New Todos Felipe Alejos 4.40 7 −9 VIVA Armando Castillo 4.70 7 +3 CREO Adela de Torrebiarte 4.41 6 +1 PHG Lecsan Mérida 4.67 6 New Winaq Sonia Gutiérrez 3.51 4 +3 Victoria Juan Carlos Rivera 2.52 4 +4 PC Jorge García Silva 3.27 3 New Unionist Álvaro Arzú Escobar 2.94 3 +2 URNG Osmundo Ponce Serrano 2.78 3 +2 PAN Manuel Conde Orellana 2.73 2 −1 MLP Vicenta Jerónimo 3.02 1 New Podemos Ronald Sierra 1.68 1 −11 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. Results by department President of the Congress before President of the Congress after Álvaro Arzú Escobar Unionist Allan Rodríguez Vamos

Incumbent President Jimmy Morales was constitutionally barred from running for a second four-year term.^[1][2]

Electoral system

The president of Guatemala is elected using the two-round system.^[3]

The 160 members of Congress are elected by two methods; 130 are elected from 22 multi-member constituencies based on the departments, with the remaining 31 elected from a single nationwide constituency. Seats are elected using closed list proportional representation, with seats allocated using the D'Hondt method.^[3]

Candidates

Thelma Aldana's candidature was rejected by authorities in April 2019 on the grounds of alleged corruption cases concerning her, although no evidence was presented. She denied 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.^[4] Aldana appealed the ruling, but the appeal was rejected in May 2019.^[5]

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.^[6][7]

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.^[8]

Party			Presidential candidate		Vice presidential candidate
		PAN–P		Roberto Arzú		José Antonio Farias
		Todos		Fredy Cabrera		Ricardo Sagastume
		MLP		Thelma Cabrera		Neftalí López
		URNG		Pablo Ceto[9]		Blanca Estela Colop
		PPT		José Luis Chea		Guillermo González
		PU		Pablo Duarte[10][11]		Roberto Villeda
		CREO		Julio Héctor Estrada[12][13]		Yara Argueta
		VIVA		Isaac Farchi Sultán		Ricardo Flores Asturias
		FCN		Estuardo Galdámez [14][15]		Betty Marroquín Silva
		Libre		Aníbal García[16][17]		Carlos Pérez
		Vamos		Alejandro Giammattei[18] [19][20]		Guillermo Castillo
		EG		Manfredo Marroquín		Oscar Adolfo Morales
		C		Benito Morales[21][22]		Claudia Mariana Valiente
		PHG		Edmond Mulet		Jorge Pérez
		Victoria		Amílcar Rivera		Erico Can Saquic
		Avanza		Danilo Roca Barillas		Manuel Martínez
		UNE		Sandra Torres[19][23]		Carlos Raúl Morales
		Unidos		Luis Velásquez Quiroga		Arturo Soto
		Winaq		Manuel Villacorta[24][25][26]		Izabel Hernández

Declined candidates

• Manuel Baldizón: deputy of the Congress 2004-2008, secretary-general of Renewed Democratic Liberty 2010-2014, presidential candidate in 2011 and 2015.^[27]
• Ernest Steve "Neto" Bran: Mayor of Mixco since 2016.^[28][29]
• Jorge Pérez: Secretary of Executive Coordination of the Presidency 2000-2002.^[19]
• Erik Súñiga: Mayor of Ayutla, San Marcos, 2008-2020.^[19]
• 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

Main article: Opinion polling for the 2019 Guatemalan general election

First round

Second round

Debates

2019 Guatemalan general election debates
Date	Organisers	Moderator(s)	P  Present    P  Present but his candidacy was revoked   NI  Non-invitee   A  Absent invitee
			Arzú PAN–P	Escobar PC	Estrada CREO	Giammattei Vamos	Mulet PHG	Torres UNE
2 June	AGG	Luis Felipe Valenzuela Marielos Fuentes	P	P	P	P	P	A
28 July	AGG	Luis Felipe Valenzuela Marielos Fuentes				P		A

Results

President

Candidate		Running mate	Party	First round		Second round
				Votes	%	Votes	%
	Sandra Torres	Carlos Raúl Morales	National Unity of Hope	1,112,939	25.42	1,384,044	42.05
	Alejandro Giammattei	Guillermo Castillo Reyes	Vamos	608,083	13.89	1,907,767	57.95
	Edmond Mulet	Jorge Pérez	Humanist Party of Guatemala	493,710	11.28
	Thelma Cabrera	Neftalí López	Movement for the Liberation of Peoples	452,260	10.33
	Roberto Arzú	José Antonio Farias	National Advancement Party–Podemos	267,049	6.10
	Isaac Farchi	Ricardo Flores Asturias	Vision with Values	259,616	5.93
	Manuel Villacorta	Izabel Hernández	Winaq	229,362	5.24
	Estuardo Galdámez	Betty Marroquín Silva	National Convergence Front	180,414	4.12
	Julio Héctor Estrada	Yara Argueta	Commitment, Renewal and Order	165,031	3.77
	Fredy Cabrera	Ricardo Sagastume	Todos	138,333	3.16
	Amílcar Rivera	Erico Can Saquic	Victory	111,998	2.56
	Pablo Ceto	Blanca Estela Colop	Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity	94,531	2.16
	Pablo Duarte	Roberto Villeda	Unionist Party	62,679	1.43
	Manfredo Marroquín	Oscar Adolfo Morales	Encuentro por Guatemala	50,594	1.16
	Aníbal García	Carlos Pérez	Libre	41,800	0.95
	Benito Morales	Claudia Mariana Valiente	Convergence	37,579	0.86
	Luis Velásquez Quiroa	Arturo Soto	Unidos	26,921	0.61
	José Luis Chea Urruela	Mario Guillermo González	Productivity and Work Party	23,962	0.55
	Danilo Roca	Manuel Martínez	Avanza	21,410	0.49
Total				4,378,271	100.00	3,291,811	100.00
Valid votes				4,378,271	86.86	3,291,811	94.68
Invalid votes				209,444	4.16	151,047	4.34
Blank votes				452,708	8.98	33,900	0.98
Total votes				5,040,423	100.00	3,476,758	100.00
Registered voters/turnout				8,150,221	61.84	8,150,221	42.66
Source: TSE

Congress

Party		National			District			Total seats	+/–
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	National Unity of Hope	717,204	17.81	7	731,015	17.43	47	54	+26
	Vamos	320,939	7.97	3	331,810	7.91	13	16	New
	National Change Union	218,914	5.44	2	243,757	5.81	10	12	+6
	Semilla	211,691	5.26	2	215,669	5.14	5	7	New
	National Convergence Front	210,307	5.22	2	227,144	5.42	6	8	–27
	Bienestar Nacional	194,067	4.82	2	209,206	4.99	6	8	+8
	Vision with Values	189,467	4.70	2	181,588	4.33	5	7	+3
	Humanist Party of Guatemala	188,234	4.67	2	186,776	4.45	4	6	New
	Valor	183,814	4.56	1	215,338	5.14	8	9	New
	Commitment, Renewal and Order	177,681	4.41	1	189,654	4.52	5	6	+1
	Todos	177,182	4.40	1	205,144	4.89	6	7	–9
	Winaq	141,252	3.51	1	144,314	3.44	3	4	+3
	Citizen Prosperity	131,694	3.27	1	152,540	3.64	2	3	New
	Movement for the Liberation of Peoples	121,743	3.02	1	123,084	2.94	0	1	New
	Unionist Party	118,337	2.94	1	109,736	2.62	2	3	+2
	Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity	112,037	2.78	1	116,943	2.79	2	3	+2
	National Advancement Party	110,016	2.73	1	104,900	2.50	1	2	–1
	Victory	101,418	2.52	1	71,630	1.71	2	3	+3
	Fuerza	77,862	1.93	0	99,090	2.36	0	0	–1
	Encuentro por Guatemala	71,668	1.78	0	66,250	1.58	0	0	–6
	Podemos	67,610	1.68	0	77,756	1.85	1	1	–11
	Convergence	49,284	1.22	0	51,024	1.22	0	0	–3
	Libre	48,267	1.20	0	51,518	1.23	0	0	New
	Avanza	31,750	0.79	0	24,735	0.59	0	0	New
	Productivity and Work Party	29,729	0.74	0	30,656	0.73	0	0	New
	Unidos	25,258	0.63	0	32,111	0.77	0	0	New
Total		4,027,425	100.00	32	4,193,388	100.00	128	160	2
Valid votes		4,027,425	79.72
Invalid/blank votes		1,024,405	20.28
Total votes		5,051,830	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		8,150,221	61.98
Source: TSE, TSE, IPU

Central American Parliament

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	National Unity of Hope	626,821	18.84	5	+1
	Vamos	297,042	8.93	2	New
	National Change Union	226,732	6.81	2	+1
	National Convergence Front	213,392	6.41	2	–
	Valor	178,587	5.37	1	New
	Bienestar Nacional	174,465	5.24	1	+1
	Todos	172,170	5.17	1	–1
	Commitment, Renewal and Order	165,832	4.98	1	+1
	Vision with Values	161,474	4.85	1	–
	Citizen Prosperity	136,204	4.09	1	New
	Winaq	115,425	3.47	1	+1
	Semilla	108,731	3.27	1	New
	Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity	106,373	3.20	1	–
	Victory	100,789	3.03	0	New
	National Advancement Party	99,730	3.00	0	–
	Unionist Party	92,968	2.79	0	–1
	Fuerza	81,762	2.46	0	–
	Podemos	64,905	1.95	0	–
	Encuentro por Guatemala	56,943	1.71	0	–1
	Convergence	49,595	1.49	0	–
	Avanza	34,211	1.03	0	New
	Libre	41,671	1.25	0	New
	Unidos	21,822	0.66	0	New
Total		3,327,644	100.00	20	+2
Valid votes		3,327,644	65.97
Invalid/blank votes		1,716,408	34.03
Total votes		5,044,052	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		8,086,526	62.38
Source: Supreme Electoral Tribunal

Municipal

See also: 2019 Guatemala City mayoral election, 2019 Quetzaltenango mayoral election, 2019 Villa Nueva mayoral election, 2019 Mixco mayoral election, 2019 Escuintla mayoral election, and 2019 Antigua Guatemala mayoral election

Party		C.	M.	%	±
	National Advancement Party	41
	Valor	156			New
	Todos	161
	Podemos	76	2
	Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity	75	5
	National Unity of Hope	314	109
	Unionist Party	111
	Bienestar Nacional	130
	National Change Union	206
	Encuentro por Guatemala	58
	Vision with Values	115
	National Convergence Front	205
	Convergence	57
	Commitment, Renewal and Order	132
	Victoria	59
	Winaq	54
	Fuerza	152
	Unidos	44			New
	Productivity and Work Party	36			New
	Vamos	255			New
	Avanza	47			New
	Humanist Party of Guatemala	123			New
	Movement for the Liberation of Peoples	109			New
	Citizen Prosperity	120			New
	Semilla	143	3		New
	Libre	69			New
	Civic committees	121			–
Total		3,169	340	100	0
Source: Supreme Electoral Tribunal

Notes