[NYTr] Guatemalan Businessman, Ex-General Head to Runoff

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

The Washington Post - Sep 11, 2007
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/10/AR2007091002077.html

Guatemalan Businessman, Ex-General Head to Runoff

By Manuel Roig-Franzia
Washington Post Foreign Service

Antigua, Guatemala  -- Three-time presidential candidate Alvaro Colom
and former army general Otto Pirez Molina easily outdistanced 12
opponents in Sunday's presidential election and will face each other in
a Nov. 4 runoff, according to results announced Monday.

With more than 96 percent of the votes counted, Colom, a businessman,
had 28 percent, winning majorities in 16 of Guatemala's 22 states,
known here as departments. But Pirez Molina, who got 24 percent of the
votes, was able to force a runoff with a strong showing in heavily
populated Guatemala City. Nobel Peace Prize recipient Rigoberta Menchz,
the first indigenous woman to run for president of Guatemala, finished
a distant sixth with 3 percent after drawing much international
attention in the early days of the campaign.

"She built her reputation internationally, but did not do enough to
earn the trust of indigenous people here in Guatemala," analyst Alvaro
Pop said in an interview.

At least 50 candidates and political activists were killed in the
run-up to the election, which included state and local races. Voting on
Sunday was mostly peaceful, with a few scattered incidents of violence
and one death in the central Guatemalan village of Tucuru, where local
news reports said opponents of a mayoral candidate clashed with police.
Turnout was heavy, with more than 3 million Guatemalans -- more than
half the 6 million registered voters -- casting ballots.

The runoff promises to be a tight race, political analyst Gustavo
Berganza said. Pirez Molina, who has vowed to use the military to
combat drug cartels and rampant violence, appeared to be in position to
pick up a large number of votes from supporters of Alejandro
Giammattei, who finished surprisingly strong in third place.
Giammattei, who represents current President Oscar Berger's Grand
National Alliance, collected 17 percent of the vote after running a
law-and-order campaign similar to Pirez Molina's.

Colom demonstrated tremendous organizational strength on election day,
with his supporters rallying voters throughout the country, even in
remote areas where political parties have traditionally been weak.
Colom also appeared to be avoiding "errors he committed in 2003" when
he aggressively attacked his opponent after the first round, turning
off voters weary of political bickering, Berganza said.

"This time," Berganza said, "he's sounding more like a statesman."

                            ***

LA Times - Sep 10, 2007via rick kissell
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-guatemala10sep10,1,2058380.story?coll=la-headlines-world

Guatemalan runoff appears set

The top two finishers in the presidential vote, based on exit polls, 
give voters a choice between distinct ideologies.

By Héctor Tobar
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

SAN RAIMUNDO, GUATEMALA -- --- Veteran center-left politician Alvaro 
Colom and former army Gen. Otto Perez Molina finished first and second, 
respectively, in Guatemala's presidential election Sunday and will face 
off in a November runoff, according to exit polls.

The crime and poverty that ravage this county of 12.7 million people 
were the central issues heading into the campaign, which was tinged
with violence, accusations of corruption, and fears that Guatemala may
soon return to authoritarian rule after 12 years of democratic
presidential elections.

Colom finished first, with 40%, and Perez Molina second, with 33%, 
according to an exit poll by the Guatevision television network. There 
were 14 candidates on the ballot. Alejandro Giammattei of the ruling 
coalition finished third, with 10%, based on the exit poll results.

The result leaves Guatemala with a clear choice between Colom, a 
technocrat critical of conservative "neoliberal" economic policies, and 
Perez Molina, a charismatic rightist promising a crackdown on crime.

Across Guatemala, millions turned out amid an often festive atmosphere. 
In rural communities, campaigns offered free meals to voters. And in at 
least one town plaza, a marimba band serenaded people as they waited in 
a long line to cast their ballots.

In San Raimundo, a hillside town about 15 miles by road from Guatemala 
City, women in traditional Maya embroidered dress voted alongside bus 
drivers and professionals.

"All we can hope for is for God to help whoever the winner is," said 
Teresa Vasquez, a mother of 10 whose husband migrated nine years ago to 
California in search of work. "The wages you make here aren't enough to 
live on."

About 10% of the 10,500 voters on the rolls in San Raimundo could not 
vote Sunday: They had left the country in search of work, officials
said.

Frustration with the conservative economic policies of outgoing 
President Oscar Berger, who is barred by the constitution from seeking 
reelection, helped fuel support for Colom, the 56-year-old scion of a 
leftist family. The candidate of the National Unity for Hope led polls 
for weeks before the vote.

"He has a plan that will make things better for us," said Francisco 
Lopez, a 60-year-old farmer, explaining why he voted for Colom.

Colom is the nephew of a former leftist mayor of Guatemala City, who
was slain during the years of military dictatorship. But Colom stumbled
in the final weeks of the campaign after a poor debate performance and
an aggressive media campaign by Perez Molina's Patriot Party.

Perez Molina, 56, a retired former chief of army intelligence, ran on 
the politically loaded slogan "Vote With a Strong Hand." The phrase 
"strong hand" (/mano dura /in Spanish) is synonymous in Latin America 
with authoritarian policies.

Repeated in television commercials and countless campaign posters with 
the Patriot Party's clenched-fist symbol, the /mano dura /slogan became 
a defining element of the campaign.

Perez Molina promised a tough approach on "delinquency" and corruption 
in a nation where murder-for-hire schemes, street crime and drug 
trafficking are rampant.

"When the general came on the scene, my family and I decided he was the 
one who is going to stop the violence," said Yolanda Climaco of
Antigua, explaining why she voted for Perez Molina.

"We own a business, and we can't work with the fear and insecurity in 
the country," she added.

Colom warned often on the campaign trail of a "return to the past," a 
reference to the decades of brutal military rule that ended in 1996
with the signing of a peace treaty between then-President Alvaro Arzu
and leftist rebels.

"We don't have a dark past, or any bodies in our closet, like others
[on the ballot] do," Colom told a crowd in the southern city of
Mazatenango. "Instead, we talk of peace, of development, and of giving
the people hope."

Other candidates picked up on the theme, including Nobel Peace Prize 
winner Rigoberta Menchu, the candidate of the Encounter for Guatemala 
party. Menchu, a Maya, was running fifth in most polls.

"We can't leave the country in the hands of a military man," Menchu
said Thursday in a speech in Mazatenango. "Please, we've already lived
that sad history."

As Perez Molina cast his ballot Sunday in Guatemala City, he lashed out 
at his opponents.

"I have fought for democracy," he said, reminding voters that he 
represented the military during the 1990s peace talks. If elected, he 
added, "There will be a firm hand, but always following the letter of 
the law."

In the 1980s, Perez Molina commanded troops in the western Quiche
region during the war against leftist rebels. Human rights groups said
army troops in Quiche committed atrocities against the predominantly
Maya population. Perez Molina was never charged with war crimes,
however.

The current campaign has been marked by violence. More than three dozen 
local candidates and political activists have been killed.

Some charge that drug traffickers who have attempted to infiltrate some 
campaigns are behind the killings.

But on Sunday, the vote appeared to go smoothly, with only isolated 
reports of irregularities.

In San Raimundo, election observers said that the supply of ink, used
to mark voters' hands so they don't cast ballots twice, had run out.
But new ink was quickly procured.

People waited patiently in long lines. In a country where people have 
grown used to malfunctions, voters were successfully casting ballots: 
That in itself seemed a kind of victory.

"Healthcare has been neglected, infrastructure too, and the highways -- 
everything," said Ramiro Cojon, a doctor, as he waited to vote in a San 
Raimundo community center. "We come here with the hope we can make all 
that better."

[Special correspondent Alex Renderos in Antigua, Guatemala, contributed 
to this report.]