GUATEMALA
— Officially: República de Guatemala.
— Seat of government: Guatemala.
— Status: Democratic.
— Structure: The president is elected directly, by two-round majority. The legislature (Congreso) is elected in the departamentos or at large, both by party list.
— Head of government: Alejandro Giammattei, Vamos, president (since 2020).
— Congressional parties: Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza; Vamos; Union del Cambio Nacional; Valor; Frente de Convergencia Nacional – Nación; Bienestar Nacional; Movimiento Semilla; Visión con Valores; Todos; Partido Humanista de Guatemala; Compromiso, Renovación, y Orden; Winaq; Prosperidad Ciudadana; Victoria; Partido Unionista; Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca – Maíz; Partido de Avanzada Nacional; Movimiento para la Liberación de los Pueblos; Podemos.
— Assessment: Making progress away from military dictatorship; but still maintaining a nationalistic claim on Bileez. Former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt (1982-3) for a time maintained de facto control of the state institutions; his Frente Republicano Guatemalteco, whose Alfonso Portillo held the presidency at the time (2000-4), nominated him to succeed Portillo, despite a constitutional ban on coup participants, and the constitutional court accepted this, reversing numerous earlier rulings. But he finished third in the first round of the 2003 presidential election, behind eventual winner Óscar Berger Perdomo (2004-8) of the Gran Alianza Nacional, and Álvaro Colom Caballeros of the UNE. Elections in 2007 to replace Berger went to a runoff as well, with Colom (2008-12), who led in the first round, defeating Otto Pérez Molina of Partido Patriota. In 2011, Pérez (2012-5) defeated Manuel Baldizón of Libertad Democrática Renovada (LiDeR) in a presidential runoff. Pérez resigned amid a corruption scandal in late 2015, succeeded by Alejandro Maldonado (2015-6). In a 2015 general election, Jimmy Morales (2016-20), of FCN-Nación, defeated Sandra Torres of UNE in a runoff. Giammattei was elected in 2019, defeating Torres in a runoff. In simultaneous Congressional elections, UNE surged and FCN collapsed.
— FH: 3-4, partly free (democratic). Econ: 6.07 (79), flawed democracy.
— Updated: 2021 June 17.
O.T. FORD