Guatemalan general election, 1982

General elections were held in Guatemala on 7 March 1982.^[1] Ángel Aníbal Guevara, hand-picked successor of previous president Romeo Lucas García, was declared the winner of the presidential election and was scheduled to take office on 1 July. However, the election was widely denounced as fraudulent by elements on both sides of the political spectrum and an army-led coup d'état on 23 March instead installed the three-man junta of General Efraín Ríos Montt, General Horacio Maldonado Schaad, and Colonel Francisco Luis Gordillo Martínez.

Voter turnout was 45.83% in the presidential election.

Results

President

Candidate	Party	Votes	%
Ángel Aníbal Guevara	Popular Democratic Front¹	379,051	38.86
Mario Sandoval Alarcón	National Liberation Movement	275,487	28.24
Alejandro Maldonado Aguirre	National Opposition Union²	221,810	22.74
Gustavo Anzueto Vielnam	Nationalist Authentic Centre	99,047	10.15
Invalid/blank votes		103,997	-
Total		1,079,392	100
Source: Nohlen

¹ The Popular Democratic Front was an alliance of the Institutional Democratic Party, the Revolutionary Party and the National Unity Front.

² the National Opposing Union was an alliance of Guatemalan Christian Democracy and the National Renewal Party.

Congress

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/-
Popular Democratic Front			33	+2
National Liberation Movement			21	+1
National Opposition Union³			9	+2
Nationalist Authentic Centre			3	New
Invalid/blank votes		-	-	-
Total			66	+5

³ Of the nine seats won by the UNO, seven were taken by Guatemalan Christian Democracy and two by the National Renewal Party.

References

1. Nohlen, D (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p323 ISBN 978-0-19-928357-6

Bibliography

• Villagrán Kramer, Francisco. Biografía política de Guatemala: años de guerra y años de paz. FLACSO-Guatemala, 2004.
• Political handbook of the world 1982. New York, 1983.