US embassy cable - 03GUATEMALA2869

UNCLAS GUATEMALA 002869 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PINR, KDEM, EAID, ASEC, GT 
SUBJECT: GUATEMALAN ELECTIONS: PROBLEMS WITH VOTER 
REGISTRATION LIST GENERATE TENSIONS 
 
 
1. Embassy election observers around the country report that 
voter lines are moving slowly and many intending voters are 
not able to vote because of problems with the voter 
registration list (\"padron electoral\") or their voter 
identification document (\"cedula\").  Authorities in 
Chimaltenango Department told the Ambassador that by 1100 
hrs. over 2,000 intending voters were waiting at the 
municipality to have their identification documents stamped 
after having been turned away at their voting tables. 
Observers in rural communities similarly report that the 
higher-than-anticipated voter turnout and problems with the 
padron are resulting in long lines at the local offices of 
the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE).  In some areas, voter 
frustration is leading to an increase in tensions.  Voting 
was suspended temporarily in the Pacific coastal town of 
Ixtapa early in the morning of November 9, but resumed once 
TSE officials arrived.  OAS Election Observation Mission head 
 
SIPDIS 
Valentin Paniagua told reporters that the delays at the 
voting tables were largely because the TSE had not 
anticipated such a massive turnout, and expressed confidence 
that ultimately all voters would be able to cast their 
ballots.  Voters standing in long lines in Solola told 
reporters they would wait out the long lines saying \"it\'s 
better to lose four hours than four years.\" 
 
2. Sources in the Police confirmed reports that an 
undetermined number of voting tables in the small town of El 
Quetzal, San Marcos Department were burned around noon by 
individuals intent on putting an end to the mayoral 
elections.  It is not clear at this time who carried out the 
destruction of the voting tables, but URNG members told the 
TSE that supporters of UNE and GANA carried out the burning. 
 
SIPDIS 
Press reports indicate that frustrated intending voters 
burned ballot boxes in the coastal town of Coatepeque around 
1400 hrs., arguing that their names were not on the \"padron,\" 
but that FRG members were not similarly excluded from the 
\"padron.\"  Partisan differences have also reportedly boiled 
over in violent confrontations in three municipalities in 
Jalapa (San Luis Jilotopeque, Monjas and Chaparron) and in 
San Antonio Suchitepequez. 
 
3. The Ambassador visited voter precincts in Antigua in the 
early afternoon and found that, unlike the rest of the 
country, Antigua voters are slow to going to the polls. 
Around 30% of voters had shown up at polling sites with only 
three hours left in the. 
4. Unseasonable rains discouraged voters in Northern 
Guatemala in the afternoon hours. 
HAMILTON