BBC report on Sunday's (Sept. 9) election

Guatemala heads for run-off vote

by BBC News

GUATEMALA CITY — Guatemala is heading for a second round in the presidential election as results indicate no candidate has secured an outright win after Sunday's vote.

Sunday’s voting, which was also for parliamentary and local elections, followed one of the bloodiest campaigns in the country’s history.

More than 50 candidates, activists and their relatives were killed.

As results came in, there were disturbances in several parts of the country, including in at least five communities where police used tear gas to disperse protesters, Guatemalan media reported.

However, the head of a European Union mission monitoring the election, Wolfgang Kreissl Dorfler, told the BBC’s World Today program that voting had gone well.

“In [comparison] with four years ago, the situation is really quiet. What we have seen is a very well organized election at all the polling stations, especially because the participation of young women and the young people here is very high.”

Murder rate

Preliminary results announced by the electoral authorities as votes were counted gave Colom 27% and Perez Molina 25%.

Alejandro Giammattei, from President Oscar Berger’s party, was trailing in third place.
Nobel peace laureate Rigoberta Menchu, the best-known internationally, was sixth in a field of 14 candidates.

The bloody election campaign highlighted the levels of crime in Guatemala.

With nearly 6,000 people killed in 2006, Guatemala has one of the highest murder rates in the world.

Both Colom of the National Unity of Hope Party (UNE) and Perez Molina, who is standing for the Patriotic Party (PP), have vowed to tackle crime and poverty.

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 criticize for being slow, corrupt and inefficient.

Perez Molina, who was the head of army intelligence, has pledged to increase the size of the police force by 50% and revive the death penalty.

Street gangs

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.

Some of the violent paramilitary fighters who were involved in the civil war are now part of organized crime gangs, analysts say.

Guatemala’s growing role as a transit point for large shipments of cocaine has also allowed criminals to wield more influence.

Youth gangs, known as “maras,” hold sway in some neighborhoods and prisons.

Some estimates put their membership higher than that of the 19,000-strong police force.