1999 Guatemalan general election

← 1995–96

2003 →

Presidential election

7 November 1999 (first round)
26 December 1999 (second round)


Nominee	Alfonso Portillo	Óscar Berger
Party	FRG	PAN
Running mate	Juan Francisco Reyes	Arabella Castro
Popular vote	1,184,932	549,408
Percentage	68.32%	31.68%

President before election

Álvaro Arzú
PAN

President-elect

Alfonso Portillo
FRG

Politics of Guatemala
This article is part of a series on

Legal framework Constitution of Guatemala Human rights LGBT rights Abortion law Capital punishment
Executive President of Guatemala Bernardo Arévalo Vice President of Guatemala Karin Herrera Ministries Secretariats
Legislature Guatemalan Congress Leadership President Nery Rodas 1st Vice President Darwin Lucas Paiz 2nd Vice President César Amézquita 3rd Vice President Nery Rodas
Judiciary Supreme Court of Justice of Guatemala President Oscar Cruz Oliva Sagastume Palacios Padilla Coyoy Duarte Castañeda Roca Calderón Méndez Barrera Carillo Palacios Constitutional Court of Guatemala President Héctor Hugo Pérez Aguilera Pimentel Arriaga Barreto Escribá Contreras Pérez Villatoro Texaj Marroquín
Elections Recent Elections 2023 2019 2015 2011 2007 Administrative divisions Departments Municipalities
Political parties AZUL BIEN CABAL CAMBIO CREO ELEFANTE PPN SEMILLA TODOS UNE VALOR VAMOS VICTORIA VIVA VOS WINAQ Former parties List of political parties
Foreign relations Ministry of Foreign Affairs Minister: Carlos Ramiro Martínez Diplomatic missions of / in Guatemala Nationality law Passport Visa requirements Visa policy Belize Cuba India Kosovo Mexico Peru Russia Spain Taiwan Turkey United States Uruguay Venezuela
Guatemala portal Other countries
v t e

General elections were held in Guatemala on 7 November 1999, with a second round of the presidential elections on 26 December.^[1] Alfonso Portillo won the presidential elections, whilst his Guatemalan Republican Front also won the Congressional elections. Voter turnout was 53.8% on 7 November and 40.4% on 26 December.^[2]

Media owner Remigio Ángel González gave more than $2.6 million and free airtime to Alfonso Portillo's campaign,^[3] which led to some political analysts to claim that the free adverts helped Portillo win the election.^[4] After becoming president, Portillo appointed Gonzalez's brother-in-law Luis Rabbé to the post of Minister of Communications, Infrastructure and Housing, a post which included responsibility for overseeing the broadcast media.^[4] The presidential election also established a pattern for the next 16 years in which the runner-up of the previous contest then went on to win.

Results

President


Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
Candidate		Party	Votes	%	Votes	%
	Alfonso Portillo	Guatemalan Republican Front	1,045,820	47.72	1,184,932	68.32
	Óscar Berger	National Advancement Party	664,417	30.32	549,408	31.68
	Álvaro Colom	URNG–DIA	270,891	12.36
	Acisclo Valladares Molína	Progressive Liberating Party	67,924	3.10
	Juan Francisco Bianchi Castillo	Democratic Renewal Action Party	45,470	2.07
	Ana Catalina Soberanis Reyes	Democratic Front New Guatemala	28,108	1.28
	José Enrique Asturias Rudeke	LOV–UD	25,236	1.15
	Danilo Julián Roca Barillas	National Centre Union	22,939	1.05
	Carlos Humberto Pérez Rodríguez	National Liberation Movement	13,080	0.60
	Emilio Eva Saldívar	Democratic Action	4,929	0.22
	Flor de María Alvarado Suárez de Solís	National Reconciling Alliance	2,698	0.12
Total			2,191,512	100.00	1,734,340	100.00

Valid votes			2,191,512	91.42	1,734,340	96.36
Invalid/blank votes			205,700	8.58	65,588	3.64
Total votes			2,397,212	100.00	1,799,928	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			4,458,744	53.76	4,458,744	40.37
Source: Nohlen

Congress


Party		National			District			Total seats
Party		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Total seats
	Guatemalan Republican Front	891,429	42.09	11	879,839	41.36	52	63
	National Advancement Party	570,108	26.92	7	589,550	27.71	30	37
	New Nation Alliance (URNG–DIA)	233,870	11.04	2	231,970	10.90	7	9
	Guatemalan Christian Democracy	86,839	4.10	1	68,609	3.23	1	2
	Progressive Liberating Party	84,197	3.98	1	91,484	4.30	0	1
	Democratic Renewal Action Party	63,824	3.01	0	76,994	3.62	0	0
	Democratic Front New Guatemala	60,821	2.87	0	53,544	2.52	0	0
	LOV–UD	48,184	2.28	0	48,398	2.28	1	1
	National Centre Union	42,921	2.03	0	40,069	1.88	0	0
	National Liberation Movement	22,857	1.08	0	21,656	1.02	0	0
	Democratic Action	8,644	0.41	0	6,074	0.29	0	0
	National Reconciliation Alliance	4,178	0.20	0	1,868	0.09	0	0
	UCN–DCG				6,480	0.30	0	0
	DCG–FDNG				5,792	0.27	0	0
	National Union				3,222	0.15	0	0
	MLN–DCG				1,829	0.09	0	0
Total		2,117,872	100.00	22	2,127,378	100.00	91	113

Valid votes		2,117,872	88.36		2,127,378	88.80
Invalid/blank votes		279,011	11.64		268,249	11.20
Total votes		2,396,883	100.00		2,395,627	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		4,458,744	53.76		4,458,744	53.73
Source: Nohlen, Lehoucq

References

^ Dieter Nohlen (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p323 ISBN 978-0-19-928357-6
^ Nohlen, p324
^ Rockwell, Rick and Janus, Noreene (2001), "Stifling Dissent: the fallout from a Mexican media invasion of Central America, Journalism Studies, 2: 4, 497 — 512
^ ^a ^b Domination of Latin airwaves has 'Ghost' scaring his critics Associated Press, 9 June 2002

Bibliography

Villagrán Kramer, Francisco. Biografía política de Guatemala: años de guerra y años de paz. FLACSO-Guatemala, 2004.
Political handbook of the world 1999. New York, 2000.

v t e Elections and referendums in Guatemala
Presidential elections	1873 1880 1892 1898 1904 1910 1916 1920 1926 1931 1944 1950 1954 1957 1958 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1985 1990–91 1995–96 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023 2027
Parliamentary elections	1873 1880 1923 1925 1926 1927 1929 1931 1935 1944 (Nov) 1944 (Dec) 1947 1948 1950 1953 1954 1955 1957 1958 1959 1961 1964 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1984 1985 1990 1994 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023 2027
Local elections	1985 1988 1990 1993 1995 1998 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023 2027
Referendums	1935 1994 1999 2018
See also: Elections in the Federal Republic of Central America