Libro Cuatro. Proceso Electoral

The electoral process begins with the call for elections and ends when its conclusion is declared by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.

During the electoral process, with regard to this matter, all days and hours shall be deemed business days and hours.

Of the full effectiveness of constitutional rights.

The electoral process shall be carried out in an environment of liberty and full effectiveness of constitutional rights. The declaration of a state of exception shall not suspend the electoral process. The Law of public order shall guarantee the effectiveness of the constitutional rights and freedoms necessary for electoral and political campaign activity to be carried out in such a way that it does not affect the electoral process nor influence its results.

All State security forces shall provide the assistance required by the authorities and public officials of the electoral bodies, as well as by the political organizations, to ensure order, guarantee liberty and the legality of the electoral process.

Likewise, public officials shall provide the cooperation requested by the authorities and members of the electoral bodies, to ensure the efficiency of the electoral process.

The assistance and cooperation provided shall be rendered under the responsibility of whoever is required.

The electoral process for general elections and deputies to the Central American Parliament shall begin with the convocation, which shall be issued by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal in the second or third week of the month of January of the year in which said elections are held. The electoral process shall be divided into three phases:

a)The first, concerning the process of nomination and registration of candidacies for offices of popular election, which shall begin one day after the convocation and shall end one day before the start of the second phase defined in literal b) of this article; in this period the conduct of electoral propaganda is prohibited.

b)The second phase shall be for the electoral campaign of all candidates for offices of popular election, which shall begin ninety days before the date on which the general elections are held until thirty-six hours before the convened election.

c)The third phase comprises the holding of the elections, computation and qualification of the votes cast. The general elections and deputies to the Central American Parliament shall be held on a Sunday in the month of June of the same year.

If the null vote obtains the required majority, the election shall be repeated in cases where applicable, to be held on a Sunday in the month of October of the same year.

If repetition of the presidential election does not occur but repetition of the municipal elections for mayors and syndics or of deputies, by national list, by district slate, or for deputies to the Central American Parliament does occur, the same may be held jointly with the second presidential election.

In the Decree of convocation, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal shall fix the date of each phase of the electoral process and of the events corresponding to each, especially as provided in Article 215 of this Law.

The Decree of convocation for the election of deputies to the National Constituent Assembly and of popular consultation shall be issued with an anticipation of not less than ninety days prior to the date of holding.

25-05-2016.

Every decree of convocation shall contain at a minimum the following requirements:

a)Object of the election;

b)Date of election and, in the case of presidential election, date of the second election;

c)Electoral district or electoral circumscriptions in which it must be held; and

d)Offices to be elected.

It is the right vested in a duly registered citizen to go to the polls to express their will by means of the vote, whether in an election for public offices or a popular consultation.”

on 25-05-2016.

Classes of elections:

a)General elections which comprise: The election of the President and Vice President of the Republic, as well as of the deputies to the Congress of the Republic and Municipal Corporations.

b)Election of deputies to the National Constituent Assembly.

c)Election of deputies to the Central American Parliament.

d)Popular consultation.

The following systems shall be applied in the determination of the vote:

a)Absolute majority;

b)Relative majority;

c)Proportional representation of minorities.

This system, applicable only to the elections of President and Vice President of the Republic, consists in that the winning ticket shall obtain at least half plus one of the valid votes cast. If in the first election none of the tickets obtains such majority, a second election shall be held with the two tickets that have obtained the greatest number of suffrages, within a time limit of not more than sixty days nor less than forty-five and in accordance with the call for elections, in which only the tickets that obtained the greatest number of votes in the first elections shall appear as nominated, and the ticket that obtains in its favor at least half plus one of the valid votes shall win the election.

the Republic on 25-05-2016.

With the relative-majority system, applicable to municipal elections of mayors and syndics, the slate that has obtained the largest number of valid votes shall win the election in its entirety.

Elections of deputies by national list, by district slate, and for deputies to the Central American Parliament, as well as elections of councilors for municipal corporations, shall be carried out by the method of proportional representation of minorities.

Under this system, the electoral results shall be recorded on a sheet that shall contain one row for each participating slate and several columns. In the first column, the number of valid votes obtained by each slate shall be entered; in the second, that same number divided by two; in the third, divided by three, and so on successively, as necessary for purposes of award.

From these figures, from highest to lowest, those corresponding to a number equal to the number of offices under election shall be chosen.

The smallest of these figures shall be the distributing figure, each slate obtaining the number of elected candidates resulting from dividing the votes it obtained by the distributing figure, disregarding remainders.

All awards shall be made strictly in the correlative order established in the lists or slates, beginning with the person heading the list and continuing with those who follow in strict order, in accordance with the number of persons elected attained.

Effects of the absolute majority of null votes.

If in the voting systems, the null votes summed in any one of said systems were more than half of the votes validly cast, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal shall agree and declare in sole instance the nullity of the elections where applicable and they shall be repeated, for a single time, with the political parties and, where applicable, the electoral civic committees having to nominate candidates for the corresponding public offices. For such purpose, the applicable provisions of Article 210 of this Law shall be followed.”

25-05-2016.

In the event of death, resignation, loss or suspension of citizenship of a candidate for any popularly elected office after registration has closed, it shall be understood that the candidacy and, where applicable, the election, corresponds to the person who must replace him pursuant to the legal norms in force.

If it is not possible to fill the vacancy of a district deputy due to there being no available nominated candidate on the slate of the party that caused the vacancy, the office shall be awarded to the person entitled thereto on the national list.

“From their registration as candidates or in the event that a vacancy is declared in the Central American Parliament, the deputyship shall be awarded to the alternate, and failing that to the person appearing immediately after the vacancy within the same slate. If the party to which the seat corresponds has not nominated further candidates, the office shall be awarded to the candidate of the political party that did nominate a candidate and to which it corresponds under the proportional representation system.”

of the Republic on 25-05-2016.

The Congress of the Republic is composed of deputies elected in the electoral districts and by the national-list system, each department of the Republic constitutes an electoral district, with the exception of the department of Guatemala, in which the municipality of the same name shall comprise the Central District and the remaining municipalities shall constitute the Departmental District of Guatemala.

The number of district deputies shall not exceed 128, which shall be distributed as follows:

a)Central District: 11 deputies

b)District of Guatemala: 19 deputies

c)Sacatepéquez: 3 deputies

d)El Progreso: 2 deputies

e)Chimaltenango: 5 deputies

f)Escuintla: 6 deputies

g)Santa Rosa: 3 deputies

h)Sololá: 3 deputies

i)Totonicapán: 4 deputies

j)Quetzaltenango: 7 deputies

k)Suchitepéquez: 5 deputies

l)Retalhuleu: 3 deputies

m)San Marcos: 9 deputies

n)Huehuetenango: 10 deputies

o)Quiché: 8 deputies

p)Baja Verapaz: 2 deputies

q)Alta Verapaz: 9 deputies

r)Petén: 4 deputies

s)Izabal: 3 deputies

t)Zacapa: 2 deputies

u)Chiquimula: 3 deputies

v)Jalapa: 3 deputies

w)Jutiapa: 4 deputies

The 32 deputies elected by the national-list system constitute twenty-five percent of the total number of district deputies that make up the Congress of the Republic.

On 25-05-2016.

Transfuguism shall be understood as the act by which a deputy resigns from a political party, having been elected or when already exercising office, by universal suffrage, for a term, and if appointed to one of the established organs, automatically ceases in the office of the organ of the Congress of which he is a member, which shall be assumed by a deputy of the represented party; the resigner may not seek any office within the organs of the Congress of the Republic.

Political organizations and legislative blocs of the Congress of the Republic are prohibited from receiving or incorporating deputies who have been elected by another political organization.

on 25-05-2016.

On the integration of the Municipal Corporations. Each Municipal Corporation shall be integrated with the Mayor, Trustees and Councilors, titular and alternate, in accordance with the number of inhabitants, as follows:

a)Three trustees, ten titular councilors; one alternate trustee, four alternate councilors, in municipalities with more than one hundred thousand inhabitants;

b)Two trustees, seven titular councilors; one alternate trustee, three alternate councilors, in municipalities with more than fifty thousand inhabitants and fewer than one hundred thousand;

c)Two trustees, five titular councilors; one alternate trustee, two alternate councilors, in municipalities with more than twenty thousand inhabitants and up to fifty thousand; and,

d)Two trustees, four titular councilors; one alternate trustee and two alternate councilors, in municipalities with twenty thousand inhabitants or fewer.

The titular councilors, in their order, shall substitute for the mayor in his temporary or definitive absence.

The alternate trustees and councilors, in their order, shall substitute for the titulars in their temporary or definitive absence.

Upon the occurrence of the vacancy, the titular councilors shall move up in their order of award, so that the alternate assumes in each case the last council seat.

If for any reason there is no alternate to fill a vacant office, the person who appears next after the person to be replaced on the slate of the respective political organization shall be considered as such, and so on successively, until the Council is integrated.

If in the foregoing manner it is not possible to fill the vacancy, the person who, having been nominated as councilor or trustee in the respective election, appears on the slate that obtained the greatest number of votes, among those available, shall be called as alternate. In both cases, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal shall decide the awards and shall accredit the corresponding person.

Citizens may run as candidates for popularly elected offices exclusively in the municipal corporations of the municipality in which they are registered in the electoral roll.

The election as mayor of a public official or public employee who holds office in the municipality where he is running or who has held it during the three months prior to the date of the call for elections is null. Excepted is the reelection of the members of the municipal council and of those whose sole profession is the performance of the teaching function, as well as professionals in the service of social assistance establishments.

Political organizations are prohibited from receiving or incorporating members of the municipal corporations who have been elected by another political organization, a prohibition that shall be applicable for three years from the holding of the general election.

Congress of the Republic on 25-05-2016.

All Municipal Corporations shall hold office for four years. In the event that no election of mayor and Municipal Corporation has been held, or if, having been held, it is declared null, the incumbent mayor and municipal corporation shall continue to discharge such functions until the assumption of office by those who are elected.

The elected mayor and Municipal Corporation shall complete the respective term.

The mathematical operations carried out to determine the award of offices under the different electoral systems regulated in this Law shall be recorded in a special record of the respective Departmental Electoral Board or of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, as applicable, with the optional participation of the agents of the political organizations accredited for such purpose.

The Supreme Electoral Tribunal shall decide in sole instance the presidential election, the elections of deputies to the Congress of the Republic or to the National Constituent Assembly, the Central American Parliament and popular consultations, issuing a single decision for the former, as determined in a first or second round, and one for each election of deputies, whether district or national-list. Popular consultations shall be determined in a single decision.

The decisions shall rule in the first place on the alleged nullities of voting and those observed on its own initiative in the vote-receiving boards, and those declared well-founded shall cause their elimination from the count. Then, the decision shall declare the validity of the election in accordance with the refinement of results established.

Once the validity of the election or popular consultation is decided, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal shall issue the corresponding declaration in favor of those who have been elected or on the majority outcome of the consultation. The elections of municipal corporations shall be assessed or decided, a decision to be issued for each municipality, which shall decide the validity of the election in accordance with the refinement of the result established for the slates of elected citizens.

The decisions issued may be challenged pursuant to Articles 246 and 247 of this law, by any of the political parties or civic committees that have participated in the election.

Once the nullity of an election has been declared by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, it shall be repeated, and for such purpose the corresponding convocation shall be made within the time limit of fifteen days counted from the declaration of nullity, and the new election shall be carried out within the following sixty days.”

“If the election is repeated as a consequence of the percentage of the sum of null votes, the convocation to elections shall be made within the time limit of ten days counted from the declaration of nullity; the holding of the corresponding extraordinary general assemblies ends sixty days before the date on which the elections are held; the following thirty days for registration of candidates; and the elections shall be held on a Sunday in the month of October of the same year.”

the Republic on 25-05-2016.

The President and Vice President of the Republic and the deputies to the Congress of the Republic who have been elected shall assume their offices on the fourteenth day of January following their election.

In the municipalities, the mayors and other members of the municipal councils who have been elected shall assume their offices on the fifteenth day of January following their election.

If, because the nullity of an election has been declared, or because such election was not held in due time, the assumption of office cannot take place on the dates indicated above, the elected public officials shall assume office within the time limit of eight days following the date of adjudication of their offices.

Legally recognized political parties may nominate and register candidates for all offices subject to popular election. Electoral civic committees may do so only for the offices of mayor and Municipal Corporations. The same citizen may only be nominated and registered for one office subject to popular election and in a single constituency.

The request for registration of candidates must be submitted to the Register of Citizens by the legal representatives of the political organizations nominating them.

Registration shall be requested in writing on the forms that the Register of Citizens shall provide for this purpose, in which the data shall be recorded and the following documents shall be submitted:

a)Full first and last names of the candidates, number of their identification document and number of their registration in the Register of Citizens.

b)Offices for which they are running.

c)Political organization or organizations registering them.

d)Certification of the birth certificate of the candidates.

“e) Copy of the Personal Identification Document;

f)Original of the transitory certificate of inexistence of charge claim issued by the Comptroller General's Office; this requirement is only for those who have handled or administered public funds. The date of issuance of said certificate shall not be older than six months.

g)Other requirements established by the Political Constitution of the Republic and this Law.”

Number 26-2016 of the Congress of the Republic.

The registration period for candidates for offices subject to popular election shall be conducted in the first phase of the electoral process, in accordance with the provisions of Article 196 of this Law.

25-05-2016.

The Department of Political Organizations of the Citizens' Register or its respective Departmental Delegation, upon receiving the request for registration, shall carefully review it and shall forward it, with its report, within a time limit of two days to the Director of said Register, who must decide it within a term of three days.

If the documentation submitted by political parties and electoral civic committees were incomplete or containing errors, the Departmental Delegations or the Department of Political Organizations shall notify what occurred within a time limit of not more than two days to the political organization in question and a time limit of three days shall run from the notification to make the corrections or complete the documentation.

If it concerns registration of municipal slates, with the exception of the departmental capitals, the decision shall be issued by the respective Departmental Delegation or by the Department of Political Organizations, as applicable.

If the decision is affirmative, the registration shall be formalized in the Citizens' Register, extending the respective credentials to each of the candidates; if it is negative, the means of challenge indicated by this Law shall apply.

Affirmative or negative decisions on registration of candidates shall be public, the Department of Political Organizations having to make such information available to all citizens by the means at its disposal, within the twenty-four hours following the notification made to the registered candidate; it must also publish the names of the candidates by political organization as they become registered.

Challenges brought against the registration of candidacies must be brought within the three days following the publication of the notification made to the registered candidate referred to in the preceding paragraph.

The regulation shall govern matters related to this article.

25-05-2016.

From the moment of their registration, presidential and vice-presidential candidates shall not be detained or prosecuted, unless the Supreme Court of Justice declares that there is cause to initiate proceedings against them. Nor shall candidates for deputies or mayors be so detained or prosecuted, unless the corresponding chamber of the Court of Appeals makes the same declaration. Excepted is the case of flagrante delicto, in which candidates may be detained, but shall be immediately placed at the disposal of the corresponding tribunal, for the consequent effects.

The electoral ballots to be used at each voting table shall be prepared in accordance with the regulations, the necessary quantity to be printed.

The Supreme Electoral Tribunal, together with the national monitors of the political parties and electoral civic committees, shall approve by absolute majority of votes of those present the model of ballots to be used for casting the vote. Likewise, they may oversee the procedure for the preparation thereof.

Requirements for electoral propaganda and guarantee

of its exercise. Electoral propaganda is any activity, exercised solely during the electoral process, carried out by political organizations, coalitions, candidates, affiliates, sympathizers, individual and collective legal persons, with the purpose of disseminating government programs; attracting, stimulating or persuading voters; as well as politically promoting citizens, affiliates or candidates, through the holding of public meetings, assemblies, marches, or through written, television, radio, cable television, Internet and similar media.

For purposes of the classification of proselytism, the provisions of subparagraph h) of Article 20 of this Law shall govern.

Electoral propaganda is free, with no limitations other than those established in this Law and acts constituting crimes, that offend morals or affect property rights or public order. Electoral propaganda has the temporal limit of being exercised exclusively in the second phase indicated in Article 196 of this Law. It corresponds to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal to determine adherence to the provisions of this paragraph.

From the day the political-electoral campaign begins, until twenty-four hours after the electoral process has concluded, no authority may condition, impede or remove electoral propaganda in places legally authorized by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.

No authority may impede demonstrations or public meetings arranged for purposes of electoral propaganda, from the moment the second phase of the electoral process referred to in Article 196 of this Law begins, until thirty-six hours before the time set for the start of voting; for such purpose, political organizations shall give notice to the respective Departmental Governorship.

During the electoral process, the application of every legal or regulatory provision applicable to electoral propaganda corresponds exclusively to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.

In any case, electoral propaganda material removed in accordance with this Law must be returned to its owners.

Within a time limit of sixty days after conclusion of an electoral process, political parties and civic committees are obligated to remove electoral propaganda in favor of them or their candidates. Upon expiration of said time limit, any authority, with authorization from the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, may remove it, in which case the cost of removal must be deducted from the amount of public financing to which there is entitlement; if there is no entitlement to public financing, the candidate promoted by the corresponding propaganda shall be liable to pay the aforementioned costs, and in the case of political propaganda that generically promotes a political party, the liable party shall be the promoted political organization.

on 25-05-2016.

Equal distribution of public resources for spaces and times in the means of social communication. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal, in times of general elections and elections of deputies to the Central American Parliament, for an equal distribution of public resources, spaces and times in the means of social communication, among the political parties:

a)It shall formulate the plan for equal distribution of spaces and times, differentiating among presidency, deputy seats and municipal corporations. In any case, in the equal distribution of spaces and times, the following is determined: for the presidency fifty percent, for deputy seats twenty-five percent and for municipal corporations twenty-five percent, the candidate retaining the power, so that in the case of deputy seats and municipal corporations the space or time may be ceded, totally or partially, in favor of the candidate for the presidency. For such purpose the applicable regulatory provisions shall be observed. The political party that does not nominate candidates for the Presidency and Vice-Presidency of the Republic shall not be entitled to the fifty percent regulated herein.

b)Political organizations shall deliver their media plan to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal so that the latter, within the thirty following days, submits to the national fiscal agents, for its approval, an integrated distribution plan. In case of discrepancy the Supreme Electoral Tribunal shall determine its final approval.

c)For purposes of monitoring and oversight by the General Inspection and the Electoral Audit which the electoral authority is obliged to carry out regarding the use of the assigned spaces and times, it shall supply to the fiscal agents of each party the corresponding certificates.

d)The spaces and times planned and assigned in accordance with this article shall be the only ones that political organizations and political coalitions may use, it being prohibited for them to directly or indirectly contract, to accept donations, spaces and times in any means of social communication, that increase their presence before the public audience. Any violation of said prohibition shall be subject to the sanctions that the Supreme Electoral Tribunal imposes in accordance with the provisions on the matter of this Law and its regulations, both for users and for providers of these services.

e)The advertising placement of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal shall have priority over commercial ones, using technical and objective criteria in the determination of spaces and times in ordinary commercial breaks. The means of social communication may not limit in any way the contracting to which this article refers.

f)The Supreme Electoral Tribunal shall allocate from its own budget, in the electoral year, an amount as part of the public financing that promotes equal access to spaces and times in the means of social communication. The calculation of the amount to be allocated shall be equivalent to not less than zero point twenty-five percent (0.25%) of the ordinary revenues of the State.

g)The Supreme Electoral Tribunal shall apply an electoral rate for spaces and times in the means of social communication.

The electoral rate is the value that the communication media, which hold a frequency by usufruct granted by the State or which require a governmental authorization, shall receive from the Supreme Electoral Tribunal as payment for the propaganda of political parties carried out within the time limit established for the electoral campaign.

The value of the electoral rate shall be twenty percent (20%) of the value resulting from the average of the commercial rate. The average shall be calculated by modality of the means of social communication in question, using the average that the means of social communication have set in the last six months prior to the call for the electoral campaign.

In the case of electoral civic committees they may place advertisements, through the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, in the means of social communication up to ten percent (10%) of their private financing.

Political parties and candidates for popularly elected office may not at any time contract for or acquire, by themselves or through third persons, time and space in any modality in the media referred to in Article 220 of this Law. Nor may the leaders and affiliates of a political party, or any citizen, contract for their personal promotion for electoral purposes. Violation of this rule shall be sanctioned in accordance with the law.

No natural person or juridical person, whether on their own behalf or on behalf of third parties, may contract for electoral propaganda in the different media. Violations of what is established in this paragraph shall be sanctioned in accordance with the law.

25-05-2016.

At the request of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, the social communication media, during the last two weeks of the month of December of the year prior to that in which the electoral process is held, shall submit their rate schedule, as well as availability within their different slots; the rates for political organizations shall not be higher than the commercial rate.

Political organizations are prohibited from contracting, transmitting, publishing or reproducing electoral propaganda directly with the communication media.

In non-electoral periods, at the request of the political organizations entitled to public financing, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal shall contract, chargeable to the public financing of the respective party, observing the distribution parameters established in Article 21 Bis of this Law.

The communication media shall not limit in any way the contracting referred to in this article.

The sanctions established in this Law, for the violation of the rules on dissemination of propaganda in the different social communication media, shall extend to the social communication media, their legal representatives and directors, who may be subject to pecuniary and criminal sanctions, upon failure to comply with the limitations established with respect to electoral campaigning.

on 25-05-2016.

During any electoral process it is strictly prohibited:

a)To engage in electoral propaganda by affixing or painting signs on effigies, walls, signs, billboards, bridges and monuments, except in the case of private property and with the authorization of the owner.

b)To use vehicles of any type, with loudspeakers, for propaganda purposes, before seven and after twenty hours.

c)To carry out electoral propaganda of any kind on the day of the general elections and to the Central American Parliament, and during the thirty-six hours prior thereto. Electoral surveys may not be published by any entity or company during the fifteen days prior to election day and during the last fifteen days before the second presidential election, if such election takes place in accordance with this Law.

d)The sale or distribution of liquors, alcoholic and fermented beverages or their consumption in public places, from twelve hours on the day before the elections until six hours on the day following it.

e)To use the resources and property of the State for electoral propaganda.

f)For public officials and public employees, to devote themselves during working hours to functions or activities of an electoral political nature, as well as to employ their authority or influence in favor of or to the detriment of a specific candidate or political organization.

g)For members of the Army and of the State security bodies or their institutions, to participate in acts of a political nature or of electoral propaganda.

h)For public employees and public officials, as well as State contractors, to report, publicize or publicly inaugurate works carried out in performance of their functions and to participate in any form in publicity or propaganda of the activities, administration or works carried out.

i)To engage in anonymous propaganda, and in every publication made in the social communication media, the name of the person responsible shall be indicated.

j)To limit free use for placement of propaganda on poles, except propaganda placed from pole to pole, which is prohibited.

k)Any other activities determined by law.

l)To engage in electoral propaganda through an interposed person, foundations, associations or any other legal form. In every publication made in the social communication media, the name of the person responsible shall be indicated; in the case of legal persons, propaganda must be endorsed with the signature of the legal representative.

m)To grant or offer perquisites, gifts or any other compensation implying clientelism for electoral purposes.

n)To carry out early propaganda activities.

ñ)The use of the colors and typography identifying a political organization in activities, documents, publicity, electronic media or any publication in which the execution of official programs or activities is identified or made known.

o)To label official facilities or vehicles with the name of any public official.

p)To name works, projects or any public activity with the name of a public official until two periods have elapsed since leaving office.

The violation of any of these prohibitions shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of this Law.

Article 54 of Decree Number 26-2016 of the Congress of the Republic of 25-05-2016.

Public officials are prohibited, at any time, from the following:

a)The use of the colors that identify a political party in activities, stationery, electronic media or any publication in which the execution of official programs or activities is identified or made known;

b)Labeling official facilities or vehicles with the name of the public official who is the head of said entity or administration.

c)Naming works, projects or any public activity with the name of a public official until two periods have elapsed since leaving office.

25-05-2016.

In no case may opinion studies be published within the fifteen days prior to election day.

Individual or juridical persons, owners of communications media that publish the results of opinion studies in violation of the provisions of this article, shall be jointly and severally liable.

05-2016.

With the citizens resident in each municipality who have registered in the Register of Citizens, a municipal electoral roll shall be prepared. Each municipal electoral roll shall be identified with the code of the corresponding department, municipality and population center.

The Supreme Electoral Tribunal shall proceed to divide each municipal electoral roll, taking into account criteria of residence, access, distance, security, population and conditions necessary for the installation of the vote-receiving boards. In urban centers, the electoral roll shall guarantee to citizens the casting of their vote at tables installed in the zone in which they reside.

“The Supreme Electoral Tribunal shall inform the political organizations, within a time limit of not less than ninety days prior to the election, about the localities where the Vote Receiving Boards will be located. Said information shall be of public access and the Delegations and Subdelegations of the Register of Citizens shall have it available for consultation by interested persons.

The Register of Citizens shall prepare the electoral roll based on citizen registration data and shall keep it updated. The electoral roll closes one hundred twenty days prior to the holding of the general elections.”

Congress of the Republic on 25-05-2016.

On the printing, publicity and gratuity of the

electoral roll. The electoral roll must be purged between the first and the second week of the month of April of the year in which the election is held.

The electoral roll shall be printed and published by the Register of Citizens, no later than the fourth week of the month of April of that same year, with a copy to be delivered to each political organization.

The electoral roll is public, therefore it may be consulted by any interested citizen; the Register of Citizens shall facilitate the mechanisms to make said consultation effective.

Upon conclusion of the electoral process and upon the voter registration activity being reopened, the period for challenges and claims is also opened, whereby the citizen may establish his/her status within the roll and shall have the opportunity to request the pertinent corrections to his/her status. Political organizations have the obligation to assist in the carrying out of this activity. This period ends upon suspension of the voter registration activity prior to the date of the election as established by law.

All operations relating to the registration, removal and transfer of citizens in the electoral roll and the issuance of registration certificates shall be carried out by the Register of Citizens at no cost whatsoever to the interested parties.” * Amended by Article 131 of Decree 10-04 of the Congress of the Republic on 26-05-2004.

25-05-2016.

The Director General of the Register of Citizens shall hear and decide any petition or challenge raised in relation to the registration of citizens or the electoral roll.

For each suffrage, the Vote Receiving Boards shall have, at a minimum, the following documents:

a)The respective electoral roll;

b)Book of records;

c)Instructions for the opening and closing of records;

d)Printed forms for the duly accredited agents of each political organization to present such challenges as they deem appropriate;

e)Control table of the number of voters;

f)Electoral ballots;

g)Such other documents as indicated by the respective regulation.

In each election, every Vote Receiving Board shall have, at a minimum, the following equipment:

a)A table, which shall contain the respective ballot boxes;

b)Chairs to accommodate its members and the poll watchers accredited before it by the political organizations;

c)A suitable piece of furniture so that the citizen may mark the vote under conditions of secrecy;

d)The respective seals;

e)A container with indelible ink to mark the index finger of the right hand, or another one failing that, of the citizen who has already voted;

f)An electoral bag;

g)The other materials indicated by the respective regulation.

No later than sixty days before the date set for the holding of suffrage, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal shall determine the necessary number of vote-receiving boards for each municipality and shall immediately communicate it to the national party agents of the political parties and to the departmental and municipal electoral boards, so that the latter shall proceed to install them.

25-05-2016.

To determine the number of Vote Reception Boards to be formed in each municipality, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal shall apply the following rules:

a)A maximum of six hundred voters shall be assigned to each Vote Reception Board;

b)Voters shall be distributed according to the numerical order of their registration in the Register of Citizens.

It is the obligation of the municipal electoral boards to install the vote-receiving boards in the municipal seats, villages, hamlets, cantons or other places where there are more than five hundred registered voters; in the event that there exist population centers with fewer than five hundred registered voters, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal shall install the voting tables in the village, hamlet, canton or place that facilitates attendance and bring together the established number, with prior compliance, in both cases, with what is provided in the second paragraph of Article 224 of this law.

The Supreme Electoral Tribunal and the municipal electoral boards are obligated to issue the provisions and take the measures that guarantee the secrecy of the vote, the comfort of the voter and that the vote-receiving boards are not disturbed in the exercise of their functions.

The conduct of each electoral process shall be overseen by the electoral organs and by the participating political organizations, in the manner regulated by this law and the regulation.

The voting at the vote-receiving board is null when:

a)The bag containing the votes has been violated.

b)By other means the commission of falsity, coercion, violence or threat exercised upon the members of the Board or upon the citizens during the conduct of the electoral process is evident;

c)Any other act that reasonably may have altered the result of the voting has been committed.

The Supreme Electoral Tribunal shall declare the nullity of the elections held in any municipality, at the request of any political organization participating in the event, or on its own initiative, if nullity has been declared in more than one third of the vote-receiving boards. It may, likewise, declare nullity if they have suffered acts of destruction or sabotage, before, during or after the election.

In case of a tie, the election shall be repeated on the date established by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.

Voting shall begin in all vote-receiving boards at seven hours on the designated day. The voting center shall close at eighteen hours, but persons who at that time are in line at each receiving table shall have the right to exercise suffrage.

Once voting is closed, the members of the Vote Reception Board shall proceed to open the ballot boxes and to scrutinize the votes, verifying that they coincide with the number of voters, and, where applicable, recording in the record any difference; then, the votes cast in favor of each slate, the blank votes and the null votes shall be counted.

“A blank vote shall be any vote that bears no mark or sign on the ballot. A null vote shall be any vote that is not clearly marked with an X, a circle or other appropriate sign, when the mark covers more than one slate, unless the intent of the vote is clear, or when the ballot contains amendments, expressions, signs or figures unrelated to the process. A null vote has legal validity, for the purpose of determining repetition of the election.”

“Votes that are not recorded on legitimate ballots, those that belong to a different electoral district or that do not correspond to the Vote Reception Board in question, as well as those votes that in any way reveal the identity of the voter, shall be invalid and shall lack legal effects.”

Once the records and other documentation have been received by the respective Departmental Electoral Board, it shall call a hearing to be held, no later than within the five working days following the voting, to proceed to the review of the counts conducted by the vote-receiving boards operating in the department, summoning thereto the party representatives of the political organizations, the delegate of the Citizens' Register and the delegate of the General Inspection. Each party shall be represented by its departmental representative or the person designated by the departmental or national General Secretary, as applicable; the party shall be notified of the day of the hearing in writing with proof of receipt. Not less than three days prior to the respective departmental electoral event, each Departmental Electoral Board shall have organized a body of reviewers, whose number shall be determined taking into account the number of polling stations and the anticipated volume of work. The regulation shall govern matters relating to the review.

The proceedings for review of scrutinies shall be carried out in accordance with this law and the procedural rules established by the regulation.

The President of each Vote Receiving Board, as soon as he has delivered the electoral sack to the Municipal Electoral Board, is obliged to inform the Supreme Electoral Tribunal of this circumstance. In the report he shall also record, in letters and numbers, the electoral results obtained in the Vote Receiving Board; this communication shall be made by the fastest means.

For the protection of the sacks containing the electoral documentation, the police authorities shall provide the Municipal Electoral Boards with the necessary number of custodians. The Municipal Electoral Boards shall appoint escorts, in the capacity of official supervisors, and the political organizations may designate poll watchers for the transfer.

Upon receiving the sacks containing the electoral documentation, the Departmental Electoral Boards shall classify them by municipality and examine them to verify the physical condition in which they are received, with the party agents accredited by the political organizations allowed to be present. Those showing signs of having been tampered with shall not be opened; the respective record shall be drawn up and they shall be sent to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal for it to resolve what is appropriate.

Verification and qualification of the electoral documentation. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal and the Departmental Electoral Boards, in accordance with the powers conferred on them by this law, are the sole competent bodies to verify and qualify the electoral documentation. The party agents duly accredited by the political organizations participating in the respective processes have the right to be present at the proceedings.

Once the qualification of an election or popular consultation becomes final, the Secretary of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal or that of the corresponding Departmental Electoral Board shall immediately issue the certifications requested by the duly accredited party agents.

The Supreme Electoral Tribunal is obligated to disclose, through all means of communication, the partial and definitive electoral results, within the time limit of eight days following the termination of the electoral process.

Against every act and decision of the electoral proceedings, the appeal of nullity lies, which must be filed within the three working days following the last notification before the authority that gave rise to it and shall be decided by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, within the time limit of three days after being received.

The decision on the nullity appeal must be issued within the time limit established in the preceding article, under warning that in case of non-compliance criminal proceedings shall be initiated against whoever is found responsible.

Notifications of the decisions issued shall be made within a time limit of two days, under warning that in case of non-compliance removal proceedings shall be initiated against whoever is found responsible.

25-05-2016.

Constitutional relief (amparo) lies against the final decisions of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, provided that the appeal for nullity has been exhausted.”

the Republic on 25-05-2016.

The Supreme Electoral Tribunal is the competent body to hear and resolve nullity appeals. The Supreme Court of Justice is the competent body to hear and resolve constitutional relief (amparo).

25-05-2016.

Within the electoral process, only the parties duly accredited in each case or their legitimate representatives may file the remedies established in this chapter.

The national party overseers (fiscales nacionales) and the departmental secretaries and overseers (fiscales) of the political parties and electoral civic committees may file the remedies of review and nullity, within the scope of their competence.

In accordance with the Political Constitution of the Republic, the popular consultation shall be called in all cases by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.

The consultative process shall be governed, as applicable, by the provisions that this Law and its regulation establish for elections, as well as by the specific provisions issued by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.

Relative majority shall be the system applicable to popular consultations.

All matters concerning electoral crimes and misdemeanors shall be governed by the Guatemalan Penal Code.

* Amended by Article 146 of Decree 10-04 of the Congress of the Republic on 26-05-2004.

* Amended by Article 147 of Decree 10-04 of the Congress of the Republic on 26-05-2004. *Deleted by Article 30 of Decree 35-2006 of the Congress of the Republic on 17-11-2006

* Amended by Article 73 of Decree Number 74-87 of the Congress of the Republic on 27-11-1987. *Deleted by Article 32 of Decree 35-2006 of the Congress of the Republic. Transitional and Final Provisions, on 17-11-2006