US embassy cable - 03GUATEMALA2867

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