ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES ELECTORAL OBSERVATION MISSION GENERAL ELECTIONS JUNE 16, 2019 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS - SECOND ROUND AUGUST 11, 2019 REPUBLIC OF GUATEMALA FINAL REPORT 1 CONTENTS I. REPORT TO THE PERMANENT COUNCIL .................................................................................. 5 1. BACKGROUND ..................................................................................................................... 5 2. GENERAL ELECTIONS ........................................................................................................... 5 2.1. Pre-election stage ....................................................................................................... 6 2.2. Election Day .............................................................................................................. 10 2.3. Post-election stage .................................................................................................... 12 2.4. Recommendations of the OAS/EOM regarding the August 11 elections ................. 16 3. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS - SECOND ROUND ................................................................... 16 3.1. Pre-election stage ..................................................................................................... 16 3.2. Election Day .............................................................................................................. 17 3.3. Post-election stage .................................................................................................... 18 4. OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS BY SUBJECT ................................................. 19 4.1. Electoral organization ............................................................................................... 20 4.2. Electoral technology ................................................................................................. 22 4.3. Voting abroad ........................................................................................................... 24 4.4. Political participation of women ............................................................................... 25 4.5. Political participation of indigenous peoples and persons of African descent ........ 27 4.6. Campaign finance...................................................................................................... 29 4.7. Electoral Justice......................................................................................................... 31 4.8. Transfuguismo [Switching party affiliation] .............................................................. 34 4.9. Electoral violence ...................................................................................................... 35 5. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS ................................................................................................... 37 6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................... 38 II. ANEXOS (Available only ins Spanish) ..................................................................................... 39 1. REPORTS BY AREA ............................................................................................................. 39 A. ELECTORAL ORGANIZATION ......................................................................................... 39 B. ELECTORAL TECHNOLOGY ............................................................................................. 66 C. VOTING ABROAD ........................................................................................................... 92 D. POLITICAL PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN ..................................................................... 102 3 E. POLITICAL PARTICIPATION OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND PERSONS OF AFRICAN DESCENT .............................................................................................................................. 114 F. CAMPAIGN FINANCE ................................................................................................... 124 G. ELECTORAL JUSTICE .................................................................................................... 135 H. POLITICAL PARTY SYSTEM ........................................................................................... 135 I. ELECTORAL VIOLENCE ................................................................................................. 160 2. COMPLAINS RECEIVED .................................................................................................... 167 3. MEMBERS OF THE MISSIONS .......................................................................................... 172 4 I. REPORT TO THE PERMANENT COUNCIL1 1. BACKGROUND On November 27, 2018, the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (GS/OAS), Luis Almagro, received an invitation from the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) of the Republic of Guatemala to deploy an Electoral Observation Mission (EOM) for the general elections that were held in the country on June 16, 2019, and for the eventual second round of the presidential election, held on August 11 of the same year. On November 29, 2018, the Secretary General accepted the invitation and instructed the Department of Electoral Cooperation and Observation (DECO) to begin preparations for the Mission and seek funding for its deployment. Secretary Almagro appointed Luis Guillermo Solís, former president of Costa Rica, as the Chief of Mission. The GS/OAS and the Government of Guatemala signed a privileges and immunities agreement on March 27, 2019. Likewise, the GS/OAS and the Supreme Electoral Tribunal signed an observation procedures agreement on May 8, 2019. For the two deployments combined—the general elections and the second round of the presidential election—the Guatemala EOM deployed a total of 172 experts and observers, including 2 observers abroad for each election. Following each election day, the EOM presented a preliminary report with its main observations and recommendations. The current document is the mission's Final Report, which combines all the previous observations and recommendations, and any additions to them. 2. GENERAL ELECTIONS The June 16 Electoral Observation Mission deployed a total of 84 observers2 and specialists of 23 nationalities in the 22 departments of Guatemala, as well as in two3 of the four cities where, for the first time, Guatemalans voted abroad. More than 8 million4 Guatemalans were registered to vote for the President and Vice President of the Republic, 160 Congressional Deputies5 (of which 128 were selected for 23 electoral 1 A summary of this report was read by the Chief of Mission, Luis Guillermo Solís, before the Permanent Council of the OAS, in the regular session held on November 18, 2020. The original version of this report is in Spanish. 2 The mission was comprised of 39 women and 45 men. 3 New York, New York, and Silver Spring, Maryland. 4 8,150,012 Guatemalans were registered to vote in the 2019 general elections. 5 There were two more seats than in the last election as a result of the 2016 amendment of the Electoral Act. 5 districts and 32 for national at-large seats), 20 Representatives of the Central American Parliament (Parlacen), and the members6 of the 340 Municipal Councils. 2.1. Pre-election stage The OAS/EOM began its work in Guatemala with two preliminary visits. The first took place on April 1-2, and the second on May 7-10. The final deployment began on June 5 with the arrival of the members of the core group, which included experts in electoral organization and technology, voting abroad, gender equity, indigenous peoples and persons of African descent, campaign-finance, electrical violence, and political parties. They performed a substantive analysis of each of these issues and their impact on the elections. Over the course of the week of the elections, they were joined by the regional coordinators and observers. During the preliminary visits and week of elections, the Chief of Mission’s team met with electoral and government authorities, presidential/vice-presidential candidates, representatives of civil society, and academics. Likewise, the Mission’s experts met with the different technical areas of the TSE, political party representatives, authorities from a variety of State institutions, members of international cooperation, social organizations, academics, and domestic electoral observers, among other actors. These meetings provided valuable insight into the technical aspects of the electoral process and allowed the Mission to garner impressions from the different actors on the political context of the elections. 2016 electoral reform The 2019 elections were the first ones held following the amendment of the Electoral and Political Parties Act (LEPP), passed in 2016. Through decree 26-2016,7 the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala amended the law to include, among other things, implementation of voting for Guatemalan citizens living abroad; changes to the timeline for the electoral campaign; campaign finance reforms, including oversight and sanctions surrounding the use of public and private funding in political campaigns; and provisions related to media access. Likewise, it included amendments to give weight to null votes with regard to votes cast; provisions to stop trasfuguismo (party switching); and new grounds for canceling political organizations, among other elements. Several of the reforms undertaken address recommendations made by the OAS Electoral Observation Mission