GUATEMALAN ELECTIONS: POLLS OPEN WITH LONG LINES

UNCLAS GUATEMALA 002867

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PINR EAID KDEM ASEC GT
SUBJECT: GUATEMALAN ELECTIONS: POLLS OPEN WITH LONG LINES



1. The polls opened on time, and reports from around the
country indicate that voter participation is larger than in
previous elections. Lines are long, and moved slowly at the
beginning, frustrating many voters, but reports from many
precincts indicate that by the second hour of voting, lines
were moving normally. Changes to the voter registration list
("padron electoral") caused some confusion at the opening of
the polls, but they do not appear to have disenfranchised
voters. Complaints that the ink used to mark voters' fingers
was not working have surfaced in a number of precincts, and
Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) President Bolanos went on TV
to explain how to apply the ink so it wouldn't come off.
There have been reports of electrical outages in a small
number of locations, but there are no indications that these
are related to the elections.


2. The country is by and large calm. As of 1000 hrs. local
time, there were no reports of nationally organized electoral
violence, though there were some isolated incidents. Police
sources tell us that in Chajul (a small town in Quiche
Department),the voting center opened late and that the crowd
attempted to rush in. In the crush, two intending voters
were killed and five were injured. Additional police units
were sent to Chajul to keep order. This report has not been
carried by the media. On the night of November 8, candidate
for Congress for the center-left UNE Rolando Morales Chavez
was shot in an apparent hold-up attempt. Morales is in
stable condition, and there are no indications that the
assault against him was politically motivated. There are
also reports that former civil patrol members (ex-PACs) are
blocking the road leading into a small hamlet in Baja Verapaz
Department. Other ex-PAC groups around the country, however,
have suspended their protests to allow voting.


3. The Ambassador visited a polling site in Zone 13 of the
capital early on the morning and then traveled to the
Kakchiquel indigenous province of Chimaltenango, where he
observed voting in the provincial capital and the rural
communities of Santo Domingo Xenacoj and Sumpango. Voter
participation in the precincts of Cimaltenango Department is
high and the mood is festive.


4. U.S. Embassy observers spread out around the country
report that all is calm, and that voters have turned out in
large numbers in every location.
HAMILTON