What is voted and what is at stake?

( Spanish) — Guatemala is organizing its 2023 general elections this Sunday. Citizens elect president, vice president and deputies, among 4,000 other positions, and all eyes are on the possible successor or successor to Alejandro Giammattei, the current president, in the midst of a series of disqualifications that have generated criticism.

These are the largest elections, by number of posts in contention, in the history of the country, according to the Chairwoman of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), Irma Elizabeth Palencia Orellana.

Some 9.3 million people are called to vote this June 25 in more than 3,400 voting centers, and, if necessary, there will be a second round, on August 20.

At this link to TSE official page You can consult your corresponding voting center.

“The ballots are ready, so are the ballot boxes, everything is ready,” said Palencia Orellana, who also asked for confidence in the Guatemalan TSE.

The most important positions in dispute are those of president and vice president, but 340 mayors, 160 deputies and 20 representatives to the Central American Parliament will also be elected.

Among the main candidates for the presidency are Sandra Torres, from the National Unity of Hope; Edmond Mulet, from Cabal; and Zury Ríos, from Valor-Unionista, among others.

There will also be voting centers in 15 cities in the United States, to facilitate voting abroad.

The new president, who will replace Giammattei, will take office on January 14, 2024.

Meanwhile, for security during election day, more than 42,300 agents of the National Civil Police and more than 25,600 soldiers will be deployed.

The shadow of disqualifications

There is great uncertainty about the outcome of the elections, according to most experts, especially due to the exclusion of candidates, highly criticized inside and outside the country.

they signed up 25 binomials for the election of president and vice presidentbut at least 3 of these were disabled or became vacant.

Among those disqualified is Carlos Pineda, for the Citizen Prosperity party, who had the highest voting intention in April, according to a survey by the firm ProDatos for the newspaper Prensa Libre.

The survey was carried out between April 14 and 23 through a survey of 1,202 people through face-to-face interviews, in 22 departments of Guatemala, with a margin of error of +-2.8% and 95% confidence.

Pineda had 23.1% of voting intention, followed by Sandra Torres, with 19.5%; Edmond Mulet, with 10.1%, and Zury Ríos, with 9.2%. The scenario described by the survey, very dispersed, indicated a high possibility of needing a second round.

Other annulled candidacies are those of Roberto Arzú, from the Podemos party, and Jordan Rodas, candidate for vice president of the Movement for the Liberation of the Peoples.

Human Rights Watch said in February that these disqualifications “undermine the credibility of the electoral process.”

While the Delegation of the European Union in Guatemala asked in May that the Guatemalan authorities “guarantee that the registration of candidates is not obstructed and that any controversy raised is processed without delay with total transparency, impartiality and in accordance with the Guatemalan Constitution”.

The European Union, in turn, will deploy an electoral observation mission in Guatemala, at the invitation of the TSE.

With information from Mario González and Merlin Delcid.