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Success Story
USAID helps get out the
vote in Guatemala
Voter Turnout Higher Than Ever
Photo: USAID/Maureen Taft-Morales
K´iche´maya women show their inked
fingers after voting.
“I am an observer here
today. It is so exciting to
see so many people voting
for their fi rst time,” said a
young Guatemalan volunteer
observer with the Mirador
Electoral.
Traditionally, candidates who captured the majority of votes in
Guatemala City win the presidency, but that is changing. The 2007
Guatemalan presidential election represents an important shift
of power away from Guatemala City and toward the
more rural areas of the country. Though this process
was underway with the Guatemalan Republican Front
(FRG) victory in 1999, it took on more importance with
municipal decentralization in 2002 and now with electoral
decentralization.
Much of the impressive shift in voter participation is
attributed to the 3,477 new polling tables in the 681 new
rural voting centers which were complemented by an
updated voter registry. In the past voters were required
to return to their birthplace to vote, which often took
several days of travel on public buses. The decentralized
voter registration allows people to vote in their current
neighborhoods. In many polling places in Alta Verapaz,
Huehuetenango, and Quiché, for instance, over 75% of registered
voters cast ballots, many for the fi rst time.
The USAID-supported national observation network, Mirador Electoral,
was proactive in its organization of new voters. Mirador worked with
the Human Rights Ombudsman’s offi ce, with indigenous observation
missions, and international observation organizations to train people
in transparent election duties. Record numbers of people of all ages
participated in the electoral process as polling officials and observers.
Guatemalan and international election observers (including U.S.
citizens and U.S. government employees) were impressed with the
seamless function of the new rural voting centers.
Another first in the national elections was the concerted effort to
include blind and deaf voters. USAID support was instrumental in
providing public information on how and where to vote in sign language
interpretation and Braille as well as ballots in Braille for every voting
table, nationwide.
The decentralization of the electoral process provoked another historic
turnover in Guatemala’s mayoral elections: fewer incumbents were
re-elected. Of 332 elected mayors, 70 percent took offi ce for the first
time compared to 30 percent last election. With more voters, mayoral
candidates had to be more sensitive to citizens’ needs and interests,
particularly those of women, youth, and indigenous people in rural
areas who were voting for the first time. This is further evidence of
an increasingly empowered citizenry in a country that only recently
initiated the practice of democratic process in 1985. Print-friendly version of this page (533kb - PDF)
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