Tekun
10th September 2007, 00:04
Guatemala electing new president
Voters are likely to have to return to the polls in November
Guatemalans are voting in presidential and parliamentary elections after one of the bloodiest campaigns in the country's history.
More than 50 candidates, activists and their relatives have been murdered in the run-up to the elections.
The two main presidential contenders are Alvaro Colom, a centre-left businessman, and a former general, Otto Perez Molina.
They have vowed to fight crime and reduce poverty.
Mr Colom, who is running for the presidency for the third time in a row, has promised to overhaul the security forces and the judicial system, which many criticise for being slow, corrupt and inefficient.
Mr Perez Molina has pledged to increase the size of the police force by 50% and revive the death penalty.
Of the 14 presidential candidates, Nobel laureate Rigoberta Menchu is the best-known internationally, but she trails far behind the front-runners.
Alejandro Giammattei, from President Oscar Berger's party, is also trailing in the polls.
None of the candidates is expected to win the 50% support needed to win outright, and a second round run-off is expected on 4 November.
Organised gangs
GUATEMALA ELECTION FACTS
14 presidential candidates
Voting mandatory
5.9m registered voters out of pop of 14.6m
Run-off on 4 Nov if no-one wins more than 50%
Bullets overshadow ballot
Guatemala is still suffering the after-effects of the 1960-1996 civil war between leftist rebels and successive military governments, which left nearly a quarter of a million people dead or missing.
An official inquiry concluded that 90% of the crimes committed during the war were carried out by security forces. But very few people have been prosecuted.
According to experts, the violent paramilitary forces that fought during the war were never disarmed - they were just recycled and put to use by organised criminals.
Election violence has been blamed on a combination of attacks on politicians by shadowy armed groups and attempts by organised crime and drug gangs to win influence in political parties.
Like some other countries in Central America and the Caribbean, Guatemala has become a major transit route for the drugs trade into the US.
Other election issues are poverty and unemployment, and the situation of Guatemalans living in the US.
Supposedly, I've been hearing that the violence is directly politically motivated by one camp against the other, and vice versa
Both men leading in the polls are neither saviors nor reformists, Colom reminds me of a cross between Bachelet and Morales, while the other moron is a real piece of work....the worse of two evils in the words of many Guatemalan voters
Rigoberta Menchu is so far below in the polls that she's almost a no factor in this years elections
Its a sad mess in Guatemala these days
Voters are likely to have to return to the polls in November
Guatemalans are voting in presidential and parliamentary elections after one of the bloodiest campaigns in the country's history.
More than 50 candidates, activists and their relatives have been murdered in the run-up to the elections.
The two main presidential contenders are Alvaro Colom, a centre-left businessman, and a former general, Otto Perez Molina.
They have vowed to fight crime and reduce poverty.
Mr Colom, who is running for the presidency for the third time in a row, has promised to overhaul the security forces and the judicial system, which many criticise for being slow, corrupt and inefficient.
Mr Perez Molina has pledged to increase the size of the police force by 50% and revive the death penalty.
Of the 14 presidential candidates, Nobel laureate Rigoberta Menchu is the best-known internationally, but she trails far behind the front-runners.
Alejandro Giammattei, from President Oscar Berger's party, is also trailing in the polls.
None of the candidates is expected to win the 50% support needed to win outright, and a second round run-off is expected on 4 November.
Organised gangs
GUATEMALA ELECTION FACTS
14 presidential candidates
Voting mandatory
5.9m registered voters out of pop of 14.6m
Run-off on 4 Nov if no-one wins more than 50%
Bullets overshadow ballot
Guatemala is still suffering the after-effects of the 1960-1996 civil war between leftist rebels and successive military governments, which left nearly a quarter of a million people dead or missing.
An official inquiry concluded that 90% of the crimes committed during the war were carried out by security forces. But very few people have been prosecuted.
According to experts, the violent paramilitary forces that fought during the war were never disarmed - they were just recycled and put to use by organised criminals.
Election violence has been blamed on a combination of attacks on politicians by shadowy armed groups and attempts by organised crime and drug gangs to win influence in political parties.
Like some other countries in Central America and the Caribbean, Guatemala has become a major transit route for the drugs trade into the US.
Other election issues are poverty and unemployment, and the situation of Guatemalans living in the US.
Supposedly, I've been hearing that the violence is directly politically motivated by one camp against the other, and vice versa
Both men leading in the polls are neither saviors nor reformists, Colom reminds me of a cross between Bachelet and Morales, while the other moron is a real piece of work....the worse of two evils in the words of many Guatemalan voters
Rigoberta Menchu is so far below in the polls that she's almost a no factor in this years elections
Its a sad mess in Guatemala these days