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Overview

Since the United Nations-sponsored Peace Accords in 1996 that brought an end to decades of civil war, Guatemalans continue to face challenges in consolidating democracy. Many citizens, particularly women and indigenous peoples, remain marginalized from political life, as evidenced by high rates of voter abstention and limited representation in democratic institutions.

Against this backdrop, the 2007 general elections in Guatemala pose an important test of the country’s democratic system. A 2005 Latinobarómetro survey found that only 23 percent of Guatemalans consider elections in their country to be generally fair. Despite advances made during the 2003 election process, many Guatemalans lack confidence in election preparations to date. Citizens have expressed concerns about the impact of a legally-mandated increase in the number of voting stations and the accuracy of the voter registry. Guatemalans also fear resurgence in partisan violence and intimidation, and are concerned about the influence of illicit funds in campaigns. These concerns threaten to undermine confidence in the electoral process and discourage citizens from voting, particularly in indigenous communities.

NDI Activities

Building on NDI’s 2003 election observation program in Guatemala, the Institute is working with Mirador Electoral 2007 (Election Watch 2007), a coalition of five Guatemalan civic groups organizing a nationwide monitoring effort. These groups include: the Association for Development, Organization, Services and Cultural Studies (Asociación Desarrollo, Organización, Servicios y Estudios Socioculturales, DOSES), the Center for the Study of Mayan Culture (Centro de Estudios de la Cultura Maya, CECMA), the Central American Institute for Political Studies (Instituto Centroamericano para Estudios Políticos, INCEP), Citizen Action (Acción Ciudadana, AC), and the Latin American School of Social Sciences (Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, FLACSO).

NDI will provide support to Mirador Electoral members to conduct a comprehensive pre-election and election-day effort. This initiative will include: an audit of the voter registry, which Mirador Electoral determined had an error rate of 30 percent in 2003; monitoring of election authorities, political parties and the media; and a systematic qualitative and quantitative observation on election day, including an independent verification of results (or quick count). Finally, Mirador will work with indigenous partner groups and to track the inclusion of indigenous issues in the electoral process.

Past NDI Programs

Against the backdrop of decreasing confidence in the 2003 elections process and expectations for low participation, NDI supported the country’s first nationwide election monitoring effort - Mirador Electoral 2003: Somos tus ojos Guatemala (Election Observer 2003: We are your eyes Guatemala). NDI helped Mirador Electoral protect the integrity of the election process by:

• issuing six pre-election statements and four election-day releases that helped hold the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) accountable to citizens and increased confidence in the election process as merited;
• documenting some 2,000 incidents of political violence, intimidation and coercion and presenting the information to the Guatemalan Human Rights Ombudsman’s Office;
• conducting a two-way audit of the voter registry that revealed a 30 percent error rate. The study helped lay the foundation for ongoing efforts to encourage the TSE to modernize the registry;
• organizing a national network of approximately 3,100 observers from 22 departments and 331 municipalities. Mirador observers provided systematic information on the development of the voting and counting process on election day.

On election day, some 99 percent of Mirador observers submitted reports on the process, alerting the TSE to problems with indelible ink and long lines of citizens waiting to vote. The TSE responded by extending voting hours and issuing instructions to poll workers on the proper use of ink to prevent double voting. The observers also provided data for a quick count, or independent projection of election results, that verified the election returns and had a margin of error of less than 1 percent. The TSE recognized Mirador’s quick count results and asked the group to publish the results to help bolster confidence in the elections.

Following the elections, Mirador Electoral and NDI presented final recommendations to the TSE, which in turn solicited assistance with future electoral reform efforts. By supporting Guatemalan groups in their efforts to mobilize citizens to promote accountability, efficiency, non-violence and transparency during the campaign period and on election day, the groups built confidence in the electoral process.

In response to declining citizen confidence in political parties throughout Latin America, in 1999 NDI launched its regional Political Leadership Program and invited seven young leaders from Guatemala's major political parties at that time: Guatemalan Republican Front (FRG); National Advancement Party (PAN); New Guatemalan Democratic Front (FDNG); National Guatemalan Revolutionary Unity (URNG); and, the Xel-Jú Civic Committee. Following an intensive two-week leadership training seminar in Washington, D.C., NDI provided one year of assistance to the party reform and strengthening projects implemented by the seven Guatemalan participants. Projects included efforts to establish internal leadership selection process in civic committees that integrated Mayan culture with modern democratic mechanisms to review candidate qualifications. This effort helped civic committees offer more skilled leaders as candidates for public office.

The 1996 Peace Accords established the framework for greater political inclusion, involving two key segments of society: indigenous people and women. In 1996, NDI joined Guatemalan partner groups in conducting focus groups to assess citizen perceptions of democracy and governance. A majority of Guatemalans interviewed emphasized the need to build institutions that encourage citizen participation in the political process beyond elections. Many also expressed interest in the rise of community-based civic committees and its impact on the political representation of indigenous movements. NDI helped to disseminate this information to the political parties and civic committees to encourage them to respond to the needs of citizens at the local level.

Based on concerns about the potential for low voter participation in the 1995 elections, NDI teamed with Guatemalan groups to organize national voter education and political party training programs. These programs helped to educate voters on their rights and responsibilities, and to provide political parties with the capacity to organize and train their party members to monitor the polls on election day.

Through the civic education effort, NDI helped both partner and recipient grassroots NGOs increase their organizational capacities by learning to develop and organize voter education efforts in 21 Guatemalan departments, reaching more than 10,000 pollwatchers and 40,000 voters directly.

Coup attempts in 1988 and 1989 coupled with increased violence around the country prompted NDI to observe the 1990 elections and monitor the effects of political violence during the campaign. NDI's pre-election and election-day delegations encouraged Guatemala to safeguard its citizenry from human rights abuses and seek greater political participation by the country's indigenous people. Following the elections, NDI provided information about comparative democratic experiences to help promote dialogue among the different sectors of Guatemalan society.

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