More than a decade after the 1996 United Nations-sponsored peace accords ended 36 years of civil war, many Guatemalans continue to be marginalized from political life. Many citizens are disillusioned with the political process and feel that their votes will not lead to significant changes in their lives. They lack confidence in public institutions, such as the security or justice systems, increasing disenchantment with political processes and further discouraging participation. Recent studies show historically high rates of voter abstention and limited representation in democratic institutions among women and indigenous peoples relative to other segments of society. Although at least 20 percent of the Guatemalan population is indigenous women, only two of 158 deputies in Congress and one of 333 mayors are indigenous women. According to an NDI-supported study of barriers to indigenous electoral participation, 50 percent of indigenous women surveyed in key municipalities planned to abstain from voting in 2007. These statistics reflect how far removed indigenous women are from political life in Guatemala.
To help address this exclusion, Guatemalan election authorities implemented a massive decentralization of voting stations for the 2007 elections to enfranchise rural indigenous voters. Although likely to take several years to effectively implement, the effort provides political parties with opportunities and incentives to develop long-term outreach strategies that go beyond their previous focus on urban populations. Expanded outreach efforts are also being motivated by recent internal party reforms and post-election party financing. To reach women and indigenous voters, however, parties will need to build new organizational structures outside of the urban centers, recruit and train new party members and bring in fresh candidates and leaders.
Women’s Political Participation
Against this backdrop, NDI seeks to help reduce the political marginalization of women and indigenous people in Guatemala by strengthening their leadership capacity and helping political parties to improve their ability to reach out to these segments of the population. Specifically, NDI is helping parties design and implement plans to reach out to and recruit women and indigenous people, and organizing a leadership academy in the indigenous-majority department of Quetzaltenango. The academy for indigenous women, which includes a series of six workshops, provides practical information on the roles of citizens and democratic institutions, personal leadership skills and community and political organizing tools. The academy is being implemented with local partner MOLOJ (Mayan Women’s Political Association) and includes participants from civil society organizations and political parties. These activities are designed to help women indigenous leaders gain positions of authority within political parties and civic organizations. NDI is also supporting the formation of a women’s parliamentary group, which plans to advocate for a minimum requirement for the inclusion of women on all party lists for national and local level elected office and greater representation of women in leadership roles in party structures.
Past Programs
National Observation 2007
Building on NDI’s 2003 election observation program in Guatemala, the Institute worked with Mirador Electoral 2007 (Election Watch 2007), a coalition of five Guatemalan civic groups on a national monitoring effort. NDI provided support to Mirador Electoral to conduct a comprehensive pre-election and election-day effort, including an audit of the voter registry; monitoring of election authorities, political parties and the media; and a systematic qualitative and quantitative observation on election day, including a quick count. Mirador also worked with indigenous partner groups to track the inclusion of indigenous issues in the electoral process.
Using data collected by 3,500 observers during the first round and run-off, Mirador conducted quick counts as an independent check on election results with margins of error of less than 1 percent. In accordance with Guatemalan law, Mirador reported its results to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE). During the first round and the run-off, the TSE president publicly announced the Mirador results on national television, emphasizing the minimal differences between Mirador’s projections and the official count. Mirador’s pre-election and election day statements helped increase confidence and participation in the electoral process.
Partnering with the Latin American Social Sciences Faculty (FLACSO), NDI supported a comprehensive study of barriers to indigenous political participation in Guatemala. FLACSO and NDI experts used survey research in four communities to investigate why indigenous citizens vote at a lower rate relative to their non-indigenous counterparts in Guatemala. The 2008 study found that lack of the proper identification card was the number one reason for not voting in Guatemala for all ethnic groups.
