General elections were held in

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by Hon ...

on 16 June 2019, to elect the President,

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

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 Alejandro Eduardo Giammattei Falla (; born 9 March 1956) is a Guatemalan politician who is serving as the president of Guatemala since 2020. He is a former director of the Guatemalan penitentiary system and participated in Guatemala's president ...

won the election in the second round of voting. Incumbent President

Jimmy Morales Jimmy Morales (born James Ernesto Morales Cabrera, ; 18 March 1969) is a Guatemalan politician, actor and comedian. From 2016 to 2020, he served as the 50th president of Guatemala. Early and personal life Morales was born in Guatemala City ...

was constitutionally barred from running for a second four-year term.

Electoral system

The

President of Guatemala The president of Guatemala ( es, Presidente de Guatemala), officially known as the President of the Republic of Guatemala ( es, Presidente de la República de Guatemala), is the head of state and head of government of Guatemala, elected to a s ...

is elected using the

two-round system The two-round system (TRS), also known as runoff voting, second ballot, or ballotage, is a voting method used to elect a single candidate, where voters cast a single vote for their preferred candidate. It generally ensures a majoritarian resu ...

. The 160 members of Congress are elected by two methods; 130 are elected from 22 multi-member constituencies based on the

departments Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

, with the remaining 31 elected from a single nationwide constituency. Seats are elected using

closed list Closed list describes the variant of party-list systems where voters can effectively only vote for political parties as a whole; thus they have no influence on the party-supplied order in which party candidates are elected. If voters had some in ...

Proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

, with seats allocated using the

D'Hondt method The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is a method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in party-list proportional representation systems. It belongs to the class of highes ...

.Congress of the Republic
IFES

Candidates

Thelma Aldana Thelma Esperanza Aldana Hernández (; born 27 September 1955) is a Guatemalan jurist and politician, former President of the Supreme Court and former Attorney General. Life Aldana was born in Gualán, eastern Guatemala, in 1955. She graduated ...

's candidature was rejected by authorities in April 2019 on the grounds of alleged corruption cases concerning her. She denies 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. Aldana appealed the ruling, but the appeal was rejected in May 2019. The candidature of Zury Ríos, daughter of Guatemalan dictator from 1982 to 1983

Efraín Ríos Montt José Efraín Ríos Montt (; 16 June 1926 – 1 April 2018) was a Guatemalan military officer and politician who served as ''de facto'' President of Guatemala in 1982–83. His brief tenure as chief executive was one of the bloodiest periods i ...

, 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. 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 The Sinaloa Cartel ( es, link=no, Cártel de Sinaloa), also known as the CDS, the Guzmán-Loera Organization, the Pacific Cartel, the Federation and the Blood Alliance, is a large, international organized crime syndicate that specializes in il ...

- from which he allegedly obtained between 10 and 12 million dollars for his election campaign - and of having ordered the murder of rival candidates.

Declined candidates

Manuel Baldizón Manuel Antonio Baldizón Méndez (, born 6 May 1970) is a Guatemalan politician, lawyer, and hotel entrepreneur. He was the leader of the "Libertad Democrática Renovada" (LIDER) Renewed Democratic Liberty party and was a candidate in the ...

: deputy of the Congress 2004-2008, secretary-general of Renewed Democratic Liberty 2010-2014, presidential candidate in 2011 and 2015. *Ernest Steve "Neto" Bran: Mayor of

Mixco Mixco () is a city and municipality in the Guatemala department of Guatemala. It is next to the main Guatemala City municipality and has become part of the Guatemala City Metropolitan Area. Most of Mixco is separated from the city by canyons, fo ...

since 2016. * Jorge Pérez: Secretary of Executive Coordination of the Presidency 2000-2002. * Erik Súñiga: Mayor of Ayutla, San Marcos, 2008-2020. * 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

First round

Second round

Debates

Results

President

Congress

Central American Parliament

Municipal

Notes

References

External links

Tribunal Supremo Electoral
{{Guatemalan elections Presidential elections in Guatemala

General election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

Elections in Guatemala June 2019 events in North America Election and referendum articles with incomplete results